The odderon: myths and reality

In the framework of a Regge-pole model, we discussthe forward phase of the proton-proton elastic scattering amplitude (ρ(13 TeV) = 0.1 ± 0.01), recently measured at the LHC. Our model includesa dipole pomeron, odderon and secondary reggeon exchanges. It accommodetes forthe low- |t| «break» (departure from the exponential behavior of the diffraction cone), the accelerating rise with energy of the forward slope B(s, t = 0) and absence of secondary dips and bumps. Contrary to the majority of Regge-pole models, our approach is based on he use of a dipole (double pole) pomeron (DP). It has a number of advantages over the conventional simple pole pomeron: DP generates rising cross sections even at unit pomeron intercept and, what is even more important, it produces a single diffraction minimum and maximum in the differential cross section, in accord with the experimental data. Relative contributions from different components to the scattering amplitude are evaluated from the fitted model.