Decisive Tests of High-Energy Models

Abstract

Regge-pole and strong-absorption (diffractive) models are based upon fundamentally different physical postulates. Although both reproduce available $\frac{d\sigma }{\mathrm{dt}}$ and polarization data, profound differences are evident in basic amplitude structure. We show that measurements of the spin-rotation parameters $R$ and $A$, for any high-energy exchange process, will determine structure of amplitudes and thus provide unambiguous tests of essential assumptions in the models. We examine explicitly the experimentally feasible reactions $\pi N\to K(\Lambda ,\Sigma )$, $\overline{K}N\to \pi (\Lambda ,\Sigma )$, and $\gamma p\to K(\Lambda ,\Sigma )$, as well as multiparticle processes.