It is analyzed the quantum mechanical scattering off a topological defect (such as a Dirac monopole) as well as a Yukawa-like potential(s) representing the typical effects of strong interactions. This system, due to the presence of a short-range potential, can be analyzed using the powerful technique of the complex angular momenta which, so far, has not been employed in the presence of monopoles (nor of other topological solitons). Due to the fact that spatial spherical symmetry is achieved only up to internal rotations, the partial wave expansion becomes very similar to the Jacob-Wick helicity amplitudes for particles with spin. However, since the angular-momentum operator has an extra internal contribution, fixed cuts in the complex angular momentum plane appear. Correspondingly, the background integral in the Regge formula does not decrease for large values of cos(Theta) (namely, large values of the Mandelstam variable s). Hence, the experimental observation of this kind of behavior could be a direct signal of non-trivial topological structures in strong interactions. The possible relations of these results with the soft Pomeron are shortly analyzed.
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