Hadron wave functions in high-energy scattering, form factors and strong decays: the effects of the Lorentz contracted form

Abstract

We study the class of processes where the dynamics depends essentially on the properties of the hadron wave functions involved in the reactions. In this case the momentum dependence of the form of wave functions imposed by Lorentz invariance and in particular by the Lorentz contraction can be tested in the experiment and may strongly influence the resulting cross sections. One example of such observables is given by the hadron form factors, where it was shown that the large Q behavior is mostly frozen, when the Lorentz contraction of the hadron wave functions is taken into account. Another example considered previously is the strong hadron decay with high energy emission. In this paper we study the role of the Lorentz contraction in the high-energy hadron-hadron scattering process at large momentum transfer. For the pp and pp scattering at large s it is shown that at small −t << s the picture of two exponential slopes in the differential cross section explained previously by the author is stable while the backward scattering cross section is strongly increased by the Lorentz contraction.