Princeton University High Energy Theory Seminar

Abstract: QCD remains elusive in the high-energy, small-angle regime where all known methods break down. This regime governs total and differential cross-sections and is tied to the long-standing puzzle of the Pomeron, a trajectory with vacuum quantum numbers plausibly linked to glueballs. In this talk I will argue that the modern formulation of the S-matrix bootstrap can tackle the soft regime of QCD. I will derive a finite-energy bound on the total cross-section, improving on the classic Froissart bound, and present the strongest interacting amplitude the bootstrap outputs. I will contrast these results with experimental data from high-energy proton–proton scattering.