Survival Probability of Large Rapidity Gaps in p̄p , pp , γp and γγ Collisions

Using an eikonal analysis, we simultaneously fit a QCD-inspired parameterization of all accelerator data on forward proton-proton and antiproton-proton scattering amplitudes, together with cosmic ray data (using Glauber theory), to predict proton–air and proton-proton cross sections at energies near √ s ≈ 30 TeV. The pair cosmic ray measurements greatly reduce the errors in the high energy proton-proton and proton-air cross section predictions—in turn, greatly reducing the errors in the fit parameters. From this analysis, we can then compute the survival probability of rapidity gaps in high energy ¯ pp and pp collisions, with high accuracy in a quasi model-free environment. Using an additive quark model and vector meson dominance, we note that that the survival probabilities are identical, at the same energy, for γp and γγ collisions, as well as for nucleon-nucleon collisions. Significantly, our analysis finds large values for gap survival probabilities, ≈ 30% at √ s = 200 GeV, ≈ 21% at √ s = 1.8 TeV and ≈ 13% at √ s = 14 TeV.