Regge pole and cut behaviour at Fermilab energies

Prompted by some unusual features of the np charge-exchange cross sections recently measured at Fermilab, we study this process over the entire energy range in an attempt to clarify its exchange amplitude structure. Comparison with all the other two-body processes so far measured at Fermilab (π^?p → π⁰n, νn, ω⁰n and elastic scattering) allows one to draw useful conclusions concerning the required J-plane structure of Regge cut models. We show that the shrinkage properties and helicity dependence of Regge cuts must be more complicated than current models suggest. We also present evidence that the Williams (or “poor man's absorption”) model for π exchange is incorrect at high energies.