Masses, widths, and branching ratios of hadronic resonances are quantified by their pole positions and residues with respect to transition amplitudes on the Riemann sheets of the complex energy-plane. In this study we discuss the analytic structure in the physical energy region of three-body scattering amplitudes on such manifolds. As an application, we determine the pole position of the $a_1(1260)$ meson from the ALEPH experiment by allowing for $\pi\rho$ coupled channels in S- and D-wave. We find it to be $\sqrt{s_0}=(1232^{+15+9}_{-0-11}-i266^{+0+15}_{-22-27})~\text{MeV}$.
Comment: 17 pages, 13 figures