Comprehensive Study of Observables in Compton Scattering on the Nucleon

We present an analysis of $13$ observables in Compton scattering on the proton. Cross sections, asymmetries with polarised beam and/or targets, and polarisation-transfer observables are investigated for energies up to the $\Delta(1232)$ resonance to determine their sensitivity to the proton's dipole scalar and spin polarisabilities. The Chiral Effective Field Theory Compton amplitude we use is complete at N$^4$LO, $\mathcal{O(}e^2\delta^4)$, for photon energies $\omega\sim m_\pi$, and so has an accuracy of a few per cent there. At photon energies in the resonance region it is complete at NLO, $\mathcal{O}(e^2\delta^0)$, and so its accuracy there is about $20$\%. We find that for energies from pion-production threshold to about $250\;\mathrm{MeV}$, multiple asymmetries have significant sensitivity to presently ill-determined combinations of proton spin polarisabilities. We also argue that the broad outcomes of this analysis will be replicated in complementary theoretical approaches, e.g., dispersion relations. Finally, we show that below the pion-production threshold, $6$ observables suffice to reconstruct the Compton amplitude, and above it $11$ are required. Although not necessary for polarisability extractions, this opens the possibility to perform "complete" Compton-scattering experiments. An interactive Mathematica notebook, including results for the neutron, is available from [email protected] .Comment: 75 pages LaTeX2e (pdflatex) including 37 figures as .pdf files using includegraphics; minor corrections. Text-identical to published version but including the Online Supplement. Higher-resolution figures are available at http://home.gwu.edu/~hgrie/Compton/one-N-comprehensive-observables-delta4.v2.0.high-resolution-figures.tg

Spin observables and spin structure functions: inequalities and dynamics

Model-independent identities and inequalities relating the various spin observables of a reaction are reviewed in a unified formalism, together with their implications for dynamical models, their physical interpretation, and the quantum aspects of the information carried by spins, in particular entanglement. These constraints between observables can be obtained from the explicit expression of the observables in terms of a set of amplitudes, a non-trivial algebraic exercise which can be preceded by numerical simulation with randomly chosen amplitudes, from anticommutation relations, or from the requirement that any polarisation vector is less than unity. The most powerful tool is the positivity of the density matrices describing the reaction or its crossed channels, with a projection to single out correlations between two or three observables. For the exclusive reactions, the cases of the strangeness-exchange proton-antiproton scattering and the photoproduction of pseudoscalar mesons are treated in some detail: all triples of observables are constrained, and new results are presented for the allowed domains. The positivity constraints for total cross-sections and single-particle inclusive reactions are reviewed, with application to spin-dependent structure functions and parton distributions. The corresponding inequalities are shown to be preserved by the evolution equations of QCD.Comment: 135 pages, 37 figures, pdflatex, to appear in Physics Reports, new subsections added, typos corrected, references adde

Colour-Singlet Exchange in ep Interactions

Results presented at the DIS97 workshop by the H1, ZEUS and E665 collaborations on processes yielding large rapidity gaps and energetic leading baryons are reviewed. A consistent picture begins to emerge in which diffractive processes dominate when the fractional longitudinal momentum loss at the baryon vertex \xpom is small, with substantial contributions from other processes as \xpom increases. The diffractive mechanism in the deep-inelastic regime is found, both from inclusive measurements and final state studies, to involve the exchange of a gluon carrying a large fraction of the exchange momentum. Vector meson results show the transition from soft to hard production mechanisms with increasing precision.Comment: 18 pages, 8 figures, LATEX, aipproc.sty. Summary talk from the diffractive sessions of the DIS97 workshop, Chicag

Photoproduction of Baryons Decaying into N pi and N eta

A combined analysis of photoproduction data on \gamma p to \pi N, eta N was performed including the data on K Lambda and K Sigma. The data are interpreted in an isobar model with s--channel baryon resonances and pi, rho,(omega), K, and K^* exchange in the t--channel. Three baryon resonances have a substantial coupling to eta N, the well known N(1535)S_{11}, N(1720)P_{13}, and N(2070)D_{15}. The inclusion of data with open strangeness reveals the presence of further new resonances, N(1840)P_{11}, N(1875)D_{13} and N(2170)D_{13}.Comment: 13 pages, 14 figure

Using effective field theory to analyse low-energy Compton scattering data from protons and light nuclei

Compton scattering provides important insight into the structure of the nucleon. For photons up to about 300 MeV, it is parameterised by six dynamical dipole polarisabilities which characterise the response of the nucleon to a monochromatic photon of fixed frequency and multipolarity. Their zero-energy limit yields the well-known static electric and magnetic dipole polarisabilities \alpha and \beta, and the four dipole spin polarisabilities. Chiral Effective Field Theory (ChiEFT) describes nucleon, deuteron and 3-He Compton scattering, using consistent nuclear currents, rescattering and wave functions. It can thus also be used to extract useful information on the neutron amplitude from Compton scattering on light nuclei. We summarise past work in ChiEFT on all of these reactions and compare with other theoretical approaches. We also discuss all proton experiments up to about 400 MeV, as well as the three modern elastic deuteron data sets, paying particular attention to precision and accuracy of each set. Constraining the Delta(1232) parameters from the resonance region, we then perform new fits to the proton data up to omega(lab)=170 MeV, and a new fit to the deuteron data. After checking in each case that a two-parameter fit is compatible with the respective Baldin sum rules, we obtain, using the sum-rule constraints in a one-parameter fit, \alpha=10.7\pm0.3(stat)\pm0.2(Baldin)\pm0.8(theory), \beta=3.1\mp0.3(stat)\pm0.2(Baldin)\pm0.8(theory), for the proton polarisabilities, and \alpha =10.9\pm 0.9(stat)\pm0.2(Baldin)\pm0.8(theory), \beta =3.6\mp 0.9(stat)\pm0.2(Baldin)\pm0.8(theory), for the isoscalar polarisabilities, each in units of 10^(-4) fm^3. We discuss plans for polarised Compton scattering, their promise as tools to access spin polarisabilities, and other future avenues for theoretical and experimental investigation.Comment: 82 pages LaTeX2e including 24 figures as .eps file embedded with includegraphicx; review for Prog. Part Nucl Phys. Final version identical to published areticle; spelling and grammar correcte

Model-independent constraints on spin observables

We discuss model-independent constraints on spin observables in exclusive and inclusive reactions, with special attention to the case of photoproduction.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, Talk by J.-M. Richard at NSTAR 2009, IHEP, Beijing (China), April 19-22, 2009, Proc. to appear in "Chinese Physics C

Double polarisation experiments in meson photoproduction

One of the remaining challenges within the standard model is to gain a good understanding of QCD in the non-perturbative regime. A key step towards this aim is baryon spectroscopy, investigating the spectrum and the properties of baryon resonances. To gain access to resonances with small $\pi N$ partial width, photoproduction experiments provide essential information. Partial wave analyses need to be performed to extract the contributing resonances. Here, a complete experiment is required to unambiguously determine the contributing amplitudes. This involves the measurement of carefully chosen single and double polarisation observables. In a joint endeavour by MAMI, ELSA, and Jefferson Laboratory, a new generation of experiments with polarised beams, polarised proton and neutron targets, and $4\pi$ particle detectors have been performed in recent years. Many results of unprecedented quality were recently published by all three experiments, and included by the various partial wave analysis groups in their analyses, leading to substantial improvements, e.g. a more precise determination of resonance parameters. An overview of recent results is given, with an emphasis on results from the CBELSA/TAPS experiment, and their impact on our understanding of the nucleon excitation spectrum is discussed.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, Proceedings of MESON2016. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1601.0132

Searching for the odderon in pp→ppK+K−pp \to pp K^{+}K^{-} and pp→ppμ+μ−pp \to pp \mu^{+}\mu^{-} reactions in the ϕ(1020)\phi(1020) resonance region at the LHC

We explore the possibility of observing odderon exchange in the $pp \to pp K^{+}K^{-}$ and $pp \to pp \mu^{+}\mu^{-}$ reactions at the LHC. We consider the central exclusive production (CEP) of the $\phi(1020)$ resonance decaying into $K^{+} K^{-}$ and $\mu^{+}\mu^{-}$. We compare the purely diffractive contribution (odderon-pomeron fusion) to the photoproduction contribution (photon-pomeron fusion). The theoretical results are calculated within the tensor-pomeron and vector-odderon model for soft reactions. We include absorptive corrections at the amplitude level. In order to fix the coupling constants for the photon-pomeron fusion contribution we discuss the reactions $\gamma p \to \omega p$ and $\gamma p \to \phi p$ including $\phi$-$\omega$ mixing. We compare our results for these reactions with the available data, especially those from HERA. Our coupling constants for the pomeron-odderon-$\phi$ vertex are taken from an analysis of the WA102 data for the $p p \to p p \phi$ reaction. We show that the odderon-exchange contribution significantly improves the description of the $pp$ azimuthal correlations and the $dP_{t}$ "glueball-filter variable" dependence of $\phi$ CEP measured by WA102. To describe the low-energy data more accurately we consider also subleading processes with reggeized vector-meson exchanges. However, they do not play a significant role at the LHC. We present predictions for two possible types of measurements: at midrapidity and with forward measurement of protons (relevant for ATLAS-ALFA or CMS-TOTEM), and at forward rapidities and without measurement of protons (relevant for LHCb). We discuss the influence of experimental cuts on the integrated cross sections and on various differential distributions. With the corresponding LHC data one should be able to get a decisive answer concerning the presence of an odderon-pomeron fusion contribution in single $\phi$ CEP.Comment: 63 pages, 34 figure

The Hadronic Final State at HERA

The hadronic final state in electron-proton collisions at HERA has provided a rich testing ground for development of the theory of the strong force, QCD. In this review, over 200 publications from the H1 and ZEUS Collaborations are summarised. Short distance physics, the measurement of processes at high energy scales, has provided rigorous tests of perturbative QCD and constrained the structure of the proton as well as allowing precise measurements of the strong coupling constant to be made. Non-perturbative or low energy processes have also been investigated and results on hadronisation interpreted together with those from other experiments. Searches for exotic QCD objects, such as pentaquarks, glueballs and instantons have been performed. The subject of diffraction has been re-invigorated through its precise measurement, such that it can now be described by perturbative QCD. After discussion of HERA, the H1 and ZEUS detectors and the techniques used to reconstruct differing hadronic final states, the above subject areas are elaborated. The major achievements are then condensed further in a final section summarising what has been learned.Comment: 60 pages, 65 figures, submitted to Reviews of Modern Physics. Updated version includes comments to the text from journal referee