Proton-Proton Elastic Scattering at LHC and Proton Structure

A systematic phenomenological investigation of high energy pp and ¯pp elastic scattering has led to a physical picture of the proton. The proton appears to consist of an outer region of q¯q condensed ground state, an inner shell of topological baryonic charge and a core where valence quarks are confined. It is, therefore, a ‘chiral bag’ (a low energy model of nucleon structure) enclosed by the q¯q condensed state – a ‘Condensate Enclosed Chiral Bag’. Based on this picture, we predict pp elastic d /dt at LHC at ps= 14 TeV and |t|=0 – 10 GeV2 and compare our prediction with those of a number of leading models. Precise measurement of d /dt by the TOTEM Collaboration will be able to distinguish between these models.