ENERGY-DEPENDENCE OF THE NUCLEON-NUCLEON SIGMA(TOT)

The nucleon-nucleon total cross section sigma(tot) is an important exp erimental quantity in the understanding of hadronic interactions. The behavior of the energy dependence of sigma(tot) has changed as the ene rgy has increased. In the 1960's data were consistent with the belief that all cross sections would eventually approach constant values as s --> infinity . By the 1970's, as s increased, all cross sections fell , reached a minimum and then rose. Results available in the early and mid 1980's showed that sigma(tot) continued increasing. The most recen t data from the Fermilab Tevatron Collider show that sigma(tot) contin ue to show a rise as the energy increases, consistent with log(2) s. T hese new results provide an ideal opportunity to present a review of t he behavior of sigma(tot). In this work, the experimental status of th e nucleon-nucleon sigma(tot), with data from the 1960's to the most re cent data from the Fermilab Tevatron Collider, is reviewed. I will als o outline the open questions for the next higher energy colliders, LHC (root s = 17 TeV) and SSC (root s = 40 TeV). The work emphasizes the importance of new measurements coming from these higher energy collide rs.