Transition from resonances to surface waves in pi^+-p elastic scattering

In this article we study resonances and surface waves in $\pi^+$--p scattering. We focus on the sequence whose spin-parity values are given by $J^p = {3/2}^+,{7/2}^+, {11/2}^+, {15/2}^+,{19/2}^+$. A widely-held belief takes for granted that this sequence can be connected by a moving pole in the complex angular momentum (CAM) plane, which gives rise to a linear trajectory of the form $J = \alpha_0+\alpha' m^2$, $\alpha'\sim 1/(\mathrm{GeV})^2$, which is the standard expression of the Regge pole trajectory. But the phenomenology shows that only the first few resonances lie on a trajectory of this type. For higher $J^p$ this rule is violated and is substituted by the relation $J\sim kR$, where $k$ is the pion--nucleon c.m.s.-momentum, and $R\sim 1$ fm. In this article we prove: (a) Starting from a non-relativistic model of the proton, regarded as composed by three quarks confined by harmonic potentials, we prove that the first three members of this $\pi^+$-p resonance sequence can be associated with a vibrational spectrum of the proton generated by an algebra $Sp(3,R)$. Accordingly, these first three members of the sequence can be described by Regge poles and lie on a standard linear trajectory. (b) At higher energies the amplitudes are dominated by diffractive scattering, and the creeping waves play a dominant role. They can be described by a second class of poles, which can be called Sommerfeld's poles, and lie on a line nearly parallel to the imaginary axis of the CAM-plane. (c) The Sommerfeld pole which is closest to the real axis of the CAM-plane is dominant at large angles, and describes in a proper way the backward diffractive peak in both the following cases: at fixed $k$, as a function of the scattering angle, and at fixed scattering angle $\theta=\pi$, as a function of $k$. (d) The evolution of this pole, as a function of $k$, is given in first approximation by $J\simeq kR$.