Kinematics of General Scattering Processes and the Mandelstam Representation

Abstract

The kinematics of an arbitrary process involving two incoming and two outgoing particles is studied in terms of the invariants used in Mandelstam's representation, treating the three processes described by the same Green's function simultaneously. It is shown that the physical regions for these processes are bounded by a cubic curve in the plane of the two independent invariants. The unitarity conditions are discussed in the approximation of neglecting intermediate states of more than two particles. The formula for the spectral functions of the double dispersion relation is obtained explicitly in terms of the invariants chosen.