The analytic foundations of Regge theory

Regge poles were first introduced into relativistic scattering theory nearly fifteen years ago. The necessity for accompanying Regge cuts was discovered within two years. The intervening years have seen a gradual improvement of our understanding of Regge theory, but, particularly at the multiparticle level, the theory has remained incomplete with its fundamental status unclear. However, on the basis of recent progress a complete and systematic development of the Regge theory of elastic and multiparticle amplitude is given. (Auth.)