Probing the Pomeron structure using dijets and $gamma$+jet events at the LHC

We consider hard diffractive events in proton-proton collisions at the LHC, in which both protons escape the collision intact. In such double Pomeron exchange processes, we propose to measure dijets and photon-jet final states, and we show that it has the potential to pin down the Pomeron quark and gluon contents, a crucial ingredient in the standard QCD description of hard diffraction. By comparing with predictions of the soft color interaction approach, we also show that more generally, the measurement of the photon-jet to di-jet cross section ratio can put stringent test on the QCD dynamics at play in diffractive processes in hadronic collisions.