Semihard interactions at high energies

We revisit a minijet model to examine the behavior of the total cross section, $\sigma_{tot}$, and the ratio of the real to imaginary parts of the scattering amplitude, $\rho$, at high energies. In this framework, the growth of $\sigma_{tot}$ in $pp$ and $\bar{p}p$ channels is driven by semihard partonic processes dominated by gluon interactions. The QCD contribution to $\sigma_{tot}$ for the jet production is computed in the next-to-leading order. We analyze data separately from the TOTEM and ATLAS/ALFA Collaborations and find evidence in both cases suggesting the necessity of an odd semihard component that becomes asymptotically significant at high energies.