We present a dispersive representation of the D-term form factor for hard exclusive reactions, using unsubtracted $t$-channel dispersion relations. The $t$-channel unitarity relation is saturated with the contribution of two-pion intermediate states,
using the two-pion distributions amplitude for the $gamma^*gammarightarrow pipi$ subprocess and reconstructing the $pipirightarrow Nbar N$ subprocess from available information on pion-nucleon partial-wave helicity amplitudes. Results for the D-term form factor as function of $t$ as well as at $t=0$ are discussed in comparison with available model predictions and phenomenological parametrizations.
We reply to the Comment by Filkov and Kashevarov, arXiv:0805.4486 [hep-ph]. We show that the discrepancies between ChPT and dispersion theory, reported for the polarizability of the pion, result from applying dispersion theory to non-analytic functions.
Recent attempts to determine the pion polarizability by dispersion relations yield values that disagree with the predictions of chiral perturbation theory. These dispersion relations are based on specific forms for the absorptive part of the Compton
amplitudes. The analytic properties of these forms are examined, and the strong enhancement of intermediate-meson contributions is shown to be connected to non-analytic structures
Recent attempts to determine the pion polarizability by dispersion relations yield values that disagree with the predictions of chiral perturbation theory. These dispersion relations are based on specific forms for the absorptive part of the Compton
amplitudes. The analytic properties of these forms are examined, and the strong enhancement of intermediate-meson contributions is shown to be connected with spurious singularities. If the basic requirements of dispersion relations are taken into account, the results of dispersion theory and effective field theory are not inconsistent.
