Abstract
We obtain the leading off-shell correction to the high-energy optical potential: v=v0×[1(γ2k2)v0], where γ=k[(q)lnf(q;k)]q=k for f(q;k)=f(q, q;k) the off-shell projectile-nucleon scattering amplitude. A slow energy variation of the amplitude at very high energy gives γ=k(k)lnfk(0), where fk(0) is the on-shell amplitude, and the correction is small. In the region of projectile-nucleon resonances, we describe the two-body interaction by a separable potential and relate γ to the scattering phase shifts. The leading off-shell correction is substantial for an absorptive resonance but "anomalously" small at an elastic resonance.