Stella Schindler, NT Seminar, Factorization of diffraction using effective field theory

Friday 8 Mar 2024, 11:00 → 13:00 US/Eastern

Diffractive processes are events with large rapidity gaps, which typically comprise a double-digit percent of collider events and are expected to be important probes of small-x physics. We derive the first full factorization of a diffractive process, incoherent ep diffraction, using the effective field theory of Glauber SCET, showing that it splits apart into universal soft and hadronic functions. We compare and contrast this factorization to prevailing models in the literature. We further show that there are four nontrivial unpolarized (and four polarized) diffractive structure functions at leading power, including the conventionally studied F2 and FL, as well as two less-studied structures that in certain phase space regions comprise a large portion of the cross-section. Our work provides new observables and perturbative predictions for HERA and the EIC, and lays a path forward for studies of broader classes of diffractive processes and their underlying physics, including at the LHC.