Nucleon electromagnetic form factors

Elastic electromagnetic nucleon form factors have long provided vital information about the structure and composition of these most basic elements of nuclear physics. The form factors are a measurable and physical manifestation of the nature of the nucleons' constituents and the dynamics that binds them together. Accurate form factor data obtained in recent years using modern experimental facilities has spurred a significant reevaluation of the nucleon and pictures of its structure; e.g., the role of quark orbital angular momentum, the scale at which perturbative QCD effects should become evident, the strangeness content, and meson-cloud effects. We provide a succinct survey of the experimental studies and theoretical interpretation of nucleon electromagnetic form factors.Comment: Topical review invited by Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physics; 34 pages (contents listed on page 34), 11 figure

Nucleon Electromagnetic Form Factors

A review of data on the nucleon electromagnetic form factors in the space-like region is presented. Recent results from experiments using polarized beams and polarized targets or nucleon recoil polarimeters have yielded a significant improvement on the precision of the data obtained with the traditional Rosenbluth separation. Future plans for extended measurements are outlined.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, Talk presented at the Bates25 Symposiu

K* nucleon hyperon form factors and nucleon strangeness

A crucial input for recent meson hyperon cloud model estimates of the nucleon matrix element of the strangeness current are the nucleon-hyperon-K* (NYK*) form factors which regularize some of the arising loops. Prompted by new and forthcoming information on these form factors from hyperon-nucleon potential models, we analyze the dependence of the loop model results for the strange-quark observables on the NYK* form factors and couplings. We find, in particular, that the now generally favored soft N-Lambda-K* form factors can reduce the magnitude of the K* contributions in such models by more than an order of magnitude, compared to previous results with hard form factors. We also discuss some general implications of our results for hadronic loop models.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, new co-author, discussion extended to the momentum dependence of the strange vector form factor

On Nucleon Electromagnetic Form Factors

A Poincare' covariant Faddeev equation, which describes baryons as composites of confined-quarks and -nonpointlike-diquarks, is solved to obtain masses and Faddeev amplitudes for the nucleon and Delta. The amplitudes are a component of a nucleon-photon vertex that automatically fulfills the Ward-Takahashi identity for on-shell nucleons. These elements are sufficient for the calculation of a quark core contribution to the nucleons' electromagnetic form factors. An accurate description of the static properties is not possible with the core alone but the error is uniformly reduced by the incorporation of meson-loop contributions. Such contributions to form factors are noticeable for Q^2 < ~2 GeV^2 but vanish with increasing momentum transfer. Hence, larger Q^2 experiments probe the quark core. The calculated behaviour of G_E^p(Q^2)/G_M^p(Q^2) on Q^2 \in [2,6] GeV^2 agrees with that inferred from polarisation transfer data. Moreover, \sqrt{Q^2} F_2(Q^2)/F_1(Q^2) is approximately constant on this domain. These outcomes result from correlations in the proton's amplitude.Comment: 31 pages, 7 figures, 5 table

Strange chiral nucleon form factors

We investigate the strange electric and magnetic form factors of the nucleon in the framework of heavy baryon chiral perturbation theory to third order in the chiral expansion. All counterterms can be fixed from data. In particular, the two unknown singlet couplings can be deduced from the parity-violating electron scattering experiments performed by the SAMPLE and the HAPPEX collaborations. Within the given uncertainties, our analysis leads to a small and positive electric strangeness radius, $= (0.05 \pm 0.09) fm^2$. We also deduce the consequences for the upcoming MAMI A4 experiment.Comment: 7 pp, REVTeX, uses epsf, minor correction

The Nucleon Elastic Form Factors

The nucleon elastic form factors are of fundamental interest, provide a unique testing ground for QCD motivated models of nucleon structure and are of critical importance to our understanding of the electromagnetic properties of nuclei. Even after an experimental effort spanning nearly 50 years the nucleon form factors are still the subject of active investigation. Advances in polarized beams, polarized targets and recoil polarimetry have been exploited over the last decade to produce an important and precise set of data. I review the status of the experimental efforts to measure the nucleon elastic form factors.Comment: Contribution to the proceedings of the Baryons04 conference. To be published in the journal Nuclear Physics

Survey of nucleon electromagnetic form factors

A dressed-quark core contribution to nucleon electromagnetic form factors is calculated. It is defined by the solution of a Poincare' covariant Faddeev equation in which dressed-quarks provide the elementary degree of freedom and correlations between them are expressed via diquarks. The nucleon-photon vertex involves a single parameter; i.e., a diquark charge radius. It is argued to be commensurate with the pion's charge radius. A comprehensive analysis and explanation of the form factors is built upon this foundation. A particular feature of the study is a separation of form factor contributions into those from different diagram types and correlation sectors, and subsequently a flavour separation for each of these. Amongst the extensive body of results that one could highlight are: r_1^{n,u}>r_1^{n,d}, owing to the presence of axial-vector quark-quark correlations; and for both the neutron and proton the ratio of Sachs electric and magnetic form factors possesses a zero.Comment: 43 pages, 17 figures, 12 tables, 5 appendice