We make a detailed eikonal fit to current data on the total and elastic scattering cross sections, the ratios $\rho$ of the real to the imaginary parts of the forward elastic scattering amplitudes, and the logarithmic slopes $B$ of the differential cross sections $d\sigma/dt$ at $t=0$, for proton-proton and antiproton-proton scattering at center-of-mass energies $W$ from 5 GeV to 57 TeV. The fit allows us to investigate the structure of the eikonal amplitudes in detail, including the impact-parameter structure of the energy-independent edge in the scattering amplitude shown to exist by Block { \em et al.} \cite{ edge}. We show that the edge region has an essentially fixed shape with a peak at approximately the "black disk" radius $R_{ \rm tot}=\sqrt{ \sigma_{ \rm tot}/2\pi}$ of the scattering amplitude, a constant width $t_{ \rm edge}\approx 1$ fm, and migrates to larger impact parameters with increasing energy proportionally to $R_{ \rm tot}$. We comment on possible physical mechanisms which could lead to the edge. We show that the eikonal results for the cross sections and $\rho$ values are described to high accuracy by analytic expressions of the forms used in earlier analyses by Block and Halzen, and extend the result to the elastic-scattering slope parameter $B$. These expressions provide simple extrapolations of the results to much higher energies. Finally, we calculate the survival probabilities for large rapidity gaps in the scattering.
Categories: hep-ph