Systematic Approach to the Analysis ofNNandNN¯Total Cross Sections

A general, rigorous, and extremely simple method of analyzing nucleon-nucleon and nucleon-antinucleon total cross sections is presented. The method is valid for all energies and provides a simple link between the experimental quantities of fundamental physical interest. It is particularly appropriate in the high-energy region and, as an example, is applied to the Regge model. The results are derived by using the concept of crossing and a weak form of Mandelstam analyticity, and depend upon the observation that the $\mathrm{NN}$ and $N\overline{N}$ total cross sections can be expressed in terms of a single spin-triplet $N\overline{N}\to N\overline{N}$ transition amplitude. A basic ingredient is the experimental knowledge of ${\sigma }_{\overline{p}n}$ or, equivalently, ${\sigma }_{\overline{n}p}$. A primary aim of this work is to encourage the experimental measurement of these cross sections.