If the two hadrons A and B are precisely the same, the final state
has well defined charge conjugation which the above arguments
require to be C = -1. This immediately implies
and, consequently, the vanishing of the form factors
at all
for all the self-conjugate hadrons
, i. e.,
those having all internal charges equal to zero. This is the case for
the truly neutral mesons
, but not for the electrically neutral mesons
or baryons
having other internal charges and
an electromagnetically active substructure.
-data for the elastic form factors of a non-neutral
hadron A,
, cover the time-like region,
, and
complement the values of the corresponding spacelike region,
.
These are deducible from A-elastic scattering
experiments on electrons,
, (as well as on other e.m.
fields) and contain the hadronic current matrix element
with
.