Intercept of the Pomeron

We show that in Reggeon field theory the intercept of the interacting Pomeron must be less than or equal to 1. The intercept is equal to 1 only when the bare intercept has a critical value. When the bare intercept exceeds the critical value a Pomeron field operator acquires a vacuum expectation value, and a discrete symmetry of the Lagrangian is spontaneously broken. It turns out that symmetry breaking is unacceptable even though ..cap alpha.. (0) < 1. Therefore, Reggeon field theory appears to be valid only when the bare intercept does not exceed the critical value. (AIP)