Asymptotic Scenarios for the Proton's Central Opacity: An Empirical Study

We present a model-independent analysis of the experimental data on the ratio $X$ between the elastic and total cross-sections from $pp$ and $\bar{p}p$ scattering in the c.m. energy interval 5 GeV - 8 TeV. Using a novel empirical parametrization for that ratio as a function of the energy and based on theoretical and empirical arguments, we investigate three distinct asymptotic scenarios: either the black-disk (BD) limit or scenarios above and below that limit. Our analysis favors a scenario below the BD, with asymptotic ratio $X = 0.36 \pm 0.08$.