Semihard QCD and high-energyppandp¯pscattering

We present the results of an analysis of high-energy $\mathrm{pp}$ and $\overline{p}p$ scattering based on a model in which the energy dependence of very-high-energy processes is driven by semihard scatterings of quarks and gluons in the nucleons. We show in particular that parton-parton scattering processes at small $x$ drive not only the observed increases in total, elastic-, and inelastic-scattering cross sections and the forward slope parameter, but also, through analyticity, a rapid increase in the ratio of the real to the imaginary part of the forward elastic-scattering amplitude. We also give a careful definition of the inclusive jet cross section and present results on ${\sigma }_{\mathrm{jet}}$, average jet multiplicities, and jet-multiplicity fluctuations at high energies.