Contents §1. Introduction1·1 The dispersion relation for N-N scattering in the early period 1· 2 How to apply the dispersion relation to N-N scattering 1· 3 Foundations of the partial-wave dispersion relation and the Mandelstam representation 1· 4 Application of the partial-wave dispersion relation to the evaluation of the two-pion-exchange contribution §2. Formulation of the partial-wave dispersion relation and its fundamental structure 2 ·1 Spectral representations for N-N scattering in the neutral spinless model 2 · 2 Structure of the GNN and N-N dispersion relations 2 · 3 Structure of the partial-wave dispersion relation and the "proper" 2n contribution 2 · 4 Energy dependence of. the two-pion-exchange contributions in the neutral spinless model 2 · 5 Properties of the right-hand cut and solution of the partial-wave dispersion relation §3. Partial-wave dispersion relation in realistic N-N scattering 3 ·1 A summary of the kinematics of the N-N system 3 · 2 Extension of the formulation to the realistic N-N scattering §4. Two-pion-exchange contribution 4 ·1 Two-pion-exchange contribution without pion-pion correlation 4 · 2 Comparison of the Jts;,l part with the OBEC model 4 · 3 Pion-pion correlation effects in the two-pion-exchange contribution 4 · 4 Comparison with empirical phase shifts §5. Discussions of related problems 5 ·1 Effect of higher n-N resonances 5 · 2 Analytic continuation of ImA (s;, t) and ImB(s;, t) 5 · 3 Correspondence with potential §6. Various applications of the partial-wave dispersion relation at North Dakota State University on June 21, 2015 http://ptps.oxfordjournals.org/ Downloaded from Dispersion Theoretic AjJproach 191 6 ·1 Application of the partial-wave dispersion relation as a dynamical equation 6 · 2 Application of the partial-wave dispersion relation to the S-wave amplitudes Appendix List of p}f L (J.I, z) **) Since an encyclopedic description is r.ot the list of refercr:ces before 1961 is not complete. For a fuller list, see, for example, the review article by Moravcsik and Noyes. 2 ) at North Dakota State University on June 21, 2015 http://ptps.oxfordjournals.org/ Downloaded from *) At present, I and Jt denote generally the total iso-spin and the total angular momentum quantum numbers of the bosons exchanged between two nucleons. at North Dakota State University on June 21, 2015 http://ptps.oxfordjournals.org/ Downloaded from at North Dakota State University on June 21, 2015 http://ptps.oxfordjournals.org/ Downloaded fromTaking pion-nucleon scattering as a prototype, he assumed that the three processes related to one another by substitution of initial and *) References 15) and 16) are referred to as F-I and F-II respectively. at North Dakota State University on June 21, 2015 http://ptps.oxfordjournals.org/ Downloaded from )' 27 )Moreover, there is no need to consider anomalous singularities, because a nucleon is the lightest baryon.Dynamically, one of the main differences comes from the conservation of "baryon number". In nucleon-nucleon scattering, the two crossed channels are...