  In the context of simple models illustrating field transformations in
Lagrangian field theories we discuss the impossibility of measuring off-shell
effects in nucleon-nucleon bremsstrahlung, Compton scattering, and related
processes. To that end we introduce a simple phenomenological Lagrangian
describing nucleon-nucleon bremsstrahlung and perform an appropriate change of
variables leading to different off-shell behavior in the nucleon-nucleon
amplitude as well as the photon-nucleon vertex. As a result we obtain a class
of equivalent Lagrangians, generating identical S-matrix elements, of which the
original Lagrangian is but one representative. We make use of this property in
order to show that what appears as an off-shell effect in an S-matrix element
for one Lagrangian may originate in a contact term from an equivalent
Lagrangian. By explicit calculation we demonstrate for the case of
nucleon-nucleon bremsstrahlung as well as nucleon Compton scattering the
equivalence of observables from which we conclude that off-shell effects cannot
in any unambiguous way be extracted from an S-matrix element. Finally, we also
discuss some implications of introducing off-shell effects on a
phenomenological basis, resulting from the requirement that the description of
one process be consistent with that of other processes described by the same
Lagrangian.
