REMARK ON THE POTENTIAL FUNCTION OF THE LINEAR SIGMA-MODEL

It is shown that the potential functions for the ordinary linear sigma model can be divided into two topographically different types dependi ng on whether the quantity R=(m(sigma)/m(pi))(2) is greater than or le ss than nine. Since the Wigner-Weyl mode (R = 1) and the Nambu-Goldsto ne mode (R = infinity) belong to different regions, we speculate that this classification may provide a generalization to the broken symmetr y situation, which could be convenient for roughly characterizing diff erent possible applications of the model. It is noted that a more comp licated potential does not so much change this picture as add differen t new regions. [S0556-2821(98)02009-8].