Perturbative Treatment of Threshold Contributions to a RisingppTotal Cross Section

We analyze the relation between increasing $N\overline{N}$ production and increasing ${\sigma }_{\mathrm{tot}}$ in a two-component picture. The possible increasing contribution to the cross section of diffractive dissociation into high-mass states is taken into account. We conclude that it is likely that both effects are important at CERN ISR energies. We also find that the short-range correlation part of the inelastic cross section without $N\overline{N}$ production must decrease above $s\sim 150$ Ge${\mathrm{V}}^2$. The decrease is consistent with the form ${\sigma }^{\mathrm{}\left(0\right)\mathrm{}}\propto s^{{\alpha }_0-1\mathrm{}}$ with ${\alpha }_0=0.92\mathrm{}\pm 0.04$.