Dynamical Evidence that Regge Poles Control Small-Momentum-Transfer Scattering at High Energy

Assuming that Regge poles control high-energy scattering at small momentum transfers, a dynamical prediction is made for the magnitude of the total $\pi \pi$ cross section and an estimate given for the corresponding width of the forward diffraction peak, starting from a knowledge of the $\rho$ and $f^0$ masses and the lifetime of the $\rho$. The results are in satisfactory agreement with numbers inferred from high-energy $\pi N$ and $\mathrm{NN}$ scattering through the factorization theorem for residues.