Oscillatory Scaling Violations and the Quantum Chromodynamic Coulomb Phase

Abstract

The exchange of gluons in the initial or final state of hard processes is shown to build a $Q^2$-dependent phase shift which may be observed as an oscillatory scaling violation in infrared-dominated processes. The non-Abelian structure of the phase can affect cross sections for experiments as diverse as $\mathrm{pp}$ elastic scattering at fixed angle and dilepton production in hadronic collisions, resulting in oscillatory components. These oscillations may already have been detected.