Analyticity and Crossing Symmetry of the Eikonal Amplitudes in Gauge Theories

After a brief review and a more refined analysis of some relevant analyticity properties (when going from Minkowskian to Euclidean theory) of the high–energy parton–parton and hadron–hadron scattering amplitudes in gauge theories, described nonperturbatively, in the eikonal approximation, by certain correlation functions of two Wilson lines or two Wilson loops near the light cone, we shall see how these same properties lead to a nice geometrical interpretation of the crossing symmetry between quark–quark and quark– antiquark eikonal amplitudes and also between loop–loop eikonal amplitudes. This relation between Minkowskian–to–Euclidean analyticity properties and crossing symmetry is discussed in detail and explicitly tested in the first orders of perturbation theory. Some nonperturbative examples existing in the literature are also discussed. E–mail: [email protected]