A dynamical approach to the information content of collinear inelastic scattering

The information content of collinear inelastic scattering is discussed in terms of (a) the nature of the classical transformation in internal angle-action space induced by the collision, (b) the number of parameters required to characterize the transformation, and (c) the number and choice of trajectories required to determine the parameters. The constraints of time reversal symmetry, energy and flux conservation are embodied in the transformation equations. In a model application the full S matrix is successfully estimated in terms of a single information parameter deduced from knowledge of the purely elastic scattering trajectories.