Missing mass as an alternative to rapidity gap in the experimental study of diffraction at high energy

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Abstract
The study of Regge and multi-Regge processes can be carried out either in terms of the rapidity or the missing-mass variables. In theoretical studies it is more advantageous to use the rapidity variable, while in practice missing masses are easier to measure. The asymptotic relations between the two variables, known in theory, are not reliable at presently available energies. We derive here a formula that provides a statistical relation between the two variables, reliable even at present energies, and demonstrate its validity by applying it to a sample of events in which both the missing-mass and the rapidity variables are known.