A recurrence relation for the polarization in elastic p-p scattering in the framework of a parton model

Abstract

Recent studies have shown that it is possible to account for the general features of large angle elastic proton-proton differential cross sections in a model where each constituent of one proton scatters from at least one constituent of the other proton in such a way that all constituents remain near their mass shell. Each of the parton-parton scatters is assumed to occur at approximately the same angle, so that the outgoing partons can easily recombine to form the two final state protons. In the present article we show that such a model, with additional assumptions regarding the scattering mechanisms at small | t|, leads to a non-trivial recurrence relation which is consistent with the structure recently reported in the high energy p-p polarization and fixed angle differential cross section.