The scattering matrix 1.1 Introduction 1.2 The S-matrix 1.3 Bubble diagrams and scattering amplitudes 1.4 The analyticity properties of scattering amplitudes 1.5 The singularity structure 1.6 Crossing 1. 7 The 2-+ 2 amplitude 1.8 Experimental observables 1.9 The optical theorem 27 1.10 Single-variable dispersion relations 1.11 The Mandelstam representation 1.12 The singularities of Feynman integrals 1.13 Potential scattering 1.14 The eikonal expansion 2 The complex angular-momentum plane 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Partial-wave amplitudes 2.3 The Froissart-Gribov projection 2.4 The Froissart bound 2.5 Signature 2.6 Singularities of partial-wave amplitudes and dispersion relations 2.7 Analytic continuation in angular momentum 2.8 Regge poles 2.9 The Mandelstam-Sommerfeld-Watson transform 2.10 TheP. D. B. COLLINSthe interaction commences, and the final state a long time afterwards (i.e. long compared with the duration of the interaction, typically~ 10-22 s). What goes on during the interaction is clearly not directly observable. It is thus certainly very useful, and some (see for example Chew ( 1962)) would claim more in accord with the philosophy of quantum mechanics, to try to develop a theory for the S-matrix directly. Others still feel that one should start from the interactions of quantized fields, and that our goal should be to obtain for strong interactions something akin to quantum electrodynamics (see for example Bjorken and Drell (1965) for a review of this subject). We are still so far from a complete theory that such disputes seem premature. Here we shall adopt mainly an S-matrix viewpoint, chiefly because in working with S-matrix elements one is concerned with (almost) directly measurable quantities, and so the S-matrix provides an excellent vantage point from which to survey the confrontation of theoretical speculation with experimental fact.In the following sections we introduce the basic ideas of S-matrix theory, the unitarity equations and the analyticity properties of scattering amplitudes. We show how these analyticity assumptions allow one to write dispersion relations for the scattering amplitudes, and discuss the ambiguities which such dispersion relations frequently possess because they involve divergent integrals. We also briefly consider Feynman perturbation field theory and Yukawa potentialscattering models, and show how they incorporate many of these features. This will set the stage for the introduction of Regge theory in the next chapter.These unitarity equations greatly restrict the form of the scattering amplitude, as we shall see.
Single-variable dispersion relationsAccording to our discussion in section 1.5 the only singularities which appear on the physical sheet are believed to be the poles corresponding to stable particles, and the threshold branch points. Thus, if we consider equal-mass scattering, and if we hold t fixed at some small, real, negative value (see fig. 1.5) in the s plane we find the singularities shown in fig. 1.7. On the right-hand side, for Re{s} > 0, we have the s-cha...