Dispersive contributions to e+p/e−pe^+p/e^-p cross section ratio in forward regime

Two-photon exchange (TPE) contributions to elastic electron-proton scattering in the forward regime are considered. The imaginary part of TPE amplitude in these kinematics is related to the DIS nucleon structure functions. The real part of the TPE amplitude is obtained from the imaginary part by means of dispersion relations. We demonstrate that the dispersion integrals for the relevant elastic $ep$-scattering amplitude converge and do not need subtraction. This allows us to make clean prediction for the real part of the TPE amplitude at forward angles. We furthermore compare $e^+p$ and $e^-p$ cross sections which depends on the real part of TPE amplitude, and predict the positron cross section to exceed the electron one by a few per cent, with the difference ranging from 1.4% to 2.8% for electron $lab$ energies in the range from 3 to 45 GeV. We furthermore predict that the absolute value of this asymmetry grows with energy, which makes it promising for experimental tests.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure

Forward Compton Scattering with weak neutral current: constraints from sum rules

We generalize forward real Compton amplitude to the case of the interference of the electromagnetic and weak neutral current, formulate a low-energy theorem, relate the new amplitudes to the interference structure functions and obtain a new set of sum rules. We address a possible new sum rule that relates the product of the axial charge and magnetic moment of the nucleon to the 0th moment of the structure function $g_5(\nu,0)$. We apply the GDH and the finite energy sum rule for constraining the dispersive $\gamma Z$-box correction to the proton's weak charge.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figure

Beam normal spin asymmetry in the quasi-RCS approximation

The two-photon exchange contribution to the single spin asymmetries with the spin orientation normal to the reaction plane is discussed for elastic electron-proton scattering in the equivalent photon approximation. In this case, hadronic part of the two-photon exchange amplitude describes real Compton scattering (RCS). We show that in the case of the beam normal spin asymmetry, this approximation selects only the photon helicity flip amplitudes of RCS. At low energies, we make use of unitarity and estimate the contribution of the $\pi N$ multipoles to the photon helicity flip amplitudes. In the Regge regime, QRCS approximation allows for a contribution from two pion exchange, and we provide an estimate of such contributions. We furthermore discuss the possibility of the quark and gluon GPD's contributions in the QRCS kinematics.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, revtex, submitted to Phys. Rev. C; new version: references adde

Probing Dark Matter with AGN Jets

We study the possibility of detecting a signature of particle dark matter in the spectrum of gamma-ray photons from active galactic nuclei (AGNs) resulting from the scattering of high-energy particles in the AGN jet off of dark matter particles. We consider particle dark matter models in the context of both supersymmetry and universal extra-dimensions (UED), and we present the complete lowest-order calculation for processes where a photon is emitted in dark matter-electron and/or dark matter-proton scattering, where electrons and protons belong to the AGN jet. We find that the process is dominated by a resonance whose energy is dictated by the particle spectrum in the dark matter sector (neutralino and selectron for the case of supersymmetry, Kaluza-Klein photon and electron for UED). The resulting gamma-ray spectrum exhibits a very characteristic spectral feature, consisting of a sharp break to a hard power-law behavior. Although the normalization of the gamma-ray flux depends strongly on assumptions on both the AGN jet geometry, composition and particle spectrum as well as on the particle dark matter model and density distribution, we show that for realistic parameters choices, and for two prominent nearby AGNs (Centaurus A and M87), the detection of this effect is in principle possible. Finally, we compare our predictions and results with recent gamma-ray observations from the Fermi, H.E.S.S. and VERITAS telescopes.Comment: 23 pages, 13 figures, submitte

How strange is pion electroproduction?

We consider pion production in parity-violating electron scattering (PVES) in the presence of nucleon strangeness in the framework of partial wave analysis with unitarity. Using the experimental bounds on the strange form factors obtained in elastic PVES, we study the sensitivity of the parity-violating asymmetry to strange nucleon form factors. For forward kinematics and electron energies above 1 GeV, we observe that this sensitivity may reach about 20\% in the threshold region. With parity-violating asymmetries being as large as tens p.p.m., this study suggests that threshold pion production in PVES can be used as a promising way to better constrain strangeness contributions. Using this model for the neutral current pion production, we update the estimate for the dispersive $\gamma Z$-box correction to the weak charge of the proton. In the kinematics of the Qweak experiment, our new prediction reads Re$\,\Box_{\gamma Z}^V(E=1.165\,{\rm GeV}) = (5.58\pm1.41)\times10^{-3}$, an improvement over the previous uncertainty estimate of $\pm2.0\times10^{-3}$. Our new prediction in the kinematics of the upcoming MESA/P2 experiment reads Re$\,\Box_{\gamma Z}^V(E=0.155\,{\rm GeV}) = (1.1\pm0.2) \times 10^{-3}$.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figure