Diffractive Excitation in Quantum Chromodynamics

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Abstract
Hadronic collision models based on quantum chromodynamics predict remarkably large cross sections for diffractive scattering of hadrons on a nuclear target. The diffraction arises from the transparency of a nucleus to the portion of the projectile wave function having small transverse separation between its constituents. Correspondingly, the typical transverse momentum within the diffracted system is significantly enhanced. This quantum-chromodynamics-based picture leads to large cross sections for diffractive charm production.