1.

31 ANALYTICITY AND CROSSING 15

rather than with the oblique axes shown in X'ig. L.3.2. We then obtain
X'ig. 1.3.3 which illustrates the physical regions for the three processes
(I.3.8), (1.3.12) and (1.3.14).
ff we commence from the z-channel, with process (1.3.12), and
cross the particles .4, and Anwe obtain the process
An+ Ar-> Ar+ Ar. (1.3.17)

s:0 s--4r*
'?//,,a/,
"/(//l

s,-it:o

u: 4m2

Fig. r.8.3. physicat,resionil:Hi*il:'ilr?*:"ar-mass scamering

The physical region for this process involving anti-particles is the

same as that for the process (1.3.S) involving particles. The TCP
theorem asserts that the amplitudes for these two processes are the
s&me. Its proof is discussed in S 4.8.
The reactions (1.3.12) and (1.3.14) also have T0P-inverses,
Ar* An- Ar*,4r,1
(r.3. r8)
Ar* Ar* Ar+ An,J
so that altogether crossing and TCP relat'e the amplitudes for six
physical processes to the s&me function l(s,t). Combining this with
the symmetuy (L.2.23) IPT invariancel that is valid in strong inter-
actions, we obtain a further six processes by reversing the direction of
the above reactions.
Just as we were able to deduce the existence of singularities at the
normal thresholds from unitarity, it is possible also to deduce the
existence of further singularities from the assumption of crossing
16 ANAr,yrrcrry AND cRossrNc [1.3
symmetry. Since .fi and ./zr represent energies in the f andu channels,
they will yield branch points exactly corresponding to those drawn
in .B1, Br, Br, . . . for s in X''ig. 1.3. l, that is at
t : 4rn2, 9m2, 16m2, (r.3.re)
?t : 4frl2, Vryr, L6mz, (1.3.20)

ff we fix, say, u ab a real value us, then because of (l.3.lb), the

branch-points (1.3.19) will appear in the s-plane at
I : -rhv -lto- 5m2, -,lro-12m2, (1.3.21)

and the t : rnz pole will appear at

g:
- uolSmz (1.3.22)
The resulting picture (for fixed u: uo) in the complex s-plane is
shown in X'ig. 1.3.4. This figure depicts the physical sheet. As we
remarked earlier this is called the physical sheet since the amplitude
x(s,uo) becomes the physical amplitude for a suitably chosen value of
s on this sheet. ft is of course a matter of convention that the branch
cuts are drawn along the real s-axis. Only their end-points are fixed
and they can be distorted as desired without changing the value of
the function .F. The branch-points however are fixed and cannot be
moved so long as the parameter z is kept fixed ab uo.
With real branch-cuts in the s-plane it is necessa,ry to decide which
limit on to the branch-cut gives the physical amplitude. n'or zo < 0,
and with s real and s > 4m2-%0, we have physical values of s, t, u
that correspond to the s-channel shown in Fig. 1.3.2. We shall see
in $ 2.3 that perturbation theory shows the physical amplitude to
be given by the limit on to this right-hand cut from the upper-half
s-plane' .F(physical): .F,(s+ ie,uo). (l.B.2g)
igtf
This result, is obtained by showing it to be equivalent to X'eynman's
prescription for obtaining physical amplitudes by giving a small
negative imaginary part ( -ie)' to the mass of each particle in any
internal line of a X'eynman diagram. With this rule, each X'eynman
irrtegral can be evaluated with real external four-momenta, that is
real s.
This result (1.3.23) from perturbation theory is referred to as 'the
ie-prescription'. Its derivation and significance outside the framework
of perturbation theory is discussed in $ 4.4.