Effective Field Theory for Diffractive QCD Processes

An effective field theory describing the QCD diffraction scattering is constructed. The constituent quarks interacting with multiperi- pheral gluons and Goldstone bosons are described by impact- parameter two-dimensional sigma models for the color and the flavor degrees of freedom. The elastic scattering amplitude is then shown to factorize into the hard and the soft pomeron contributions (talk at 5th Blois Workshop on Elastic and Diffractive Scattering Workshop, June 8 - 12, 1993, Providence RI USA)