Unified QCD picture of hard diffraction

Abstract

Using a combination of S-Matrix and perturbative QCD properties in the small x_{Bjorken} regime, we propose a formulation of hard diffraction unifying the partonic (Ingelman-Schlein) Pomeron, Soft Colour Interaction and QCD dipole descriptions. In particular, we show that all three approaches give an unique and mutually compatible formula for the proton diffractive structure functions incorporating perturbative and non perturbative QCD features.

23 pages, 3 figures