Odderon Exchange from Elastic Scattering Differences between pp and pp[over ¯] Data at 1.96 TeV and from pp Forward...

Area of Science:

• High Energy Physics
• Particle Physics
• Quantum Chromodynamics

Background:

• The Standard Model of particle physics describes fundamental particles and forces.
• Proton-proton (pp) and anti-proton proton (pp[over ¯]) elastic scattering are crucial for understanding strong interaction dynamics.
• The existence of the odderon, a C-odd colorless gluonic compound, has been hypothesized but not experimentally confirmed.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare pp[over ¯] elastic cross section data from the D0 Collaboration with pp elastic cross section data from the TOTEM Collaboration.
• To search for evidence of the odderon exchange in proton-proton and anti-proton proton collisions.
• To establish the first observation of the odderon with high statistical significance.

Main Methods:

• A model-independent analysis was employed to compare cross-section data.
• TOTEM data at various center-of-mass energies (2.76, 7, 8, and 13 TeV) were extrapolated to 1.96 TeV for comparison with D0 data.
• Combined analysis included TOTEM measurements of total cross section and the ratio of real to imaginary parts of the forward elastic scattering amplitude.

Main Results:

• A disagreement at the 3.4σ level was observed between D0 and extrapolated TOTEM cross-section measurements in specific regions of the pp cross section.
• This disagreement provides initial evidence for the t-channel exchange of the odderon.
• The combined analysis yielded a significance greater than 5σ, indicating the first observation of the odderon.

Conclusions:

• The study presents compelling evidence for the existence of the odderon, a predicted but previously unobserved particle exchange.
• The combined analysis of elastic scattering data from multiple experiments provides the first statistically significant observation of the odderon.
• This discovery has significant implications for our understanding of the strong force and the behavior of matter at high energies.