"Soft" Hard Scattering in the Teraelectronvolt Range

Cross sections for the production of secondaries with large transverse momentum can become comparable to the total cross section in the teraelectronvolt energy range. We argue that the onset of this effect is observed at subteraelectronvolt energies via (i) an increase in the rapidity distribution near $y=0\mathrm{}$, (ii) an increase of $〈p_T〉$ with energy, and (iii) a correlation between $〈p_T〉$ and multiplicity. We discuss the implications for future hadron colliders and cosmic-ray experiments in the corresponding energy range.