Diffractive production at collider energies and factorization

One of the more interesting developments from recent collider experiments is the finding that hadronic total cross sections as well as elastic cross sections can be described by the exchange of a "soft Pomeron" pole in the near-forward limit. The most important consequence of Pomeron being a pole is the factorization property. However, due to Pomeron intercept being greater than 1, the extrapolated single-diffraction dissociation cross section based on a classical triple-Pomeron formula is too large leading to a potential unitarity violation at Tevatron energies, which has been referred to as "Dino's paradox". We review the resolution which involves a proper implementation of final-state screening correction, with "flavoring" for Pomeron as the primary dynamical mechanism for setting the relevant energy scale. In this approach, factorization remains intact, and unambiguous predictions for double-Pomeron exchange, doubly diffraction dissociation, etc., both at Tevatron and at LHC energies, can be made. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.