An interpretation of two-body hadron reactions

This is a review and study of the absorption model approach to two-body hadron reactions. The basic view is that reactions proceed by Reggeized particle exchange, modified by (mainly) absorptive initial and final state interactions. Our approach is pedagogical in two respects. First, the conceptual basis of the approach is discussed in detail, and considerable emphasis is put on spin properties and relating amplitudes and observables. We attempt to explain the procedures in sufficient detail that the interested reader can apply them. Limitations and theoretical weaknesses of the approach are discussed. Second, by approaching the whole field of two-body hadron reactions from one viewpoint, we can give unified treatments of some areas, such as polarizations, and of many observables and regularities, and unified explanations of why the data behave as they do from the viewpoint of the model. Because our purpose is primarily pedagogical, we consider representative reactions and amplitudes rather than exhaustively discuss data. At least one example of every major kind of amplitude is discussed, so the extension to additional reactions is often qualitatively possible without further calculation.