Measurement of the Electric and Magnetic Polarizabilities of the Proton

The Compton scattering cross section on the proton has been measured at laboratory angles of 90$^\circ$ and 135$^\circ$ using tagged photons in the energy range 70--100 MeV and simultaneously using untagged photons in the range 100--148~MeV. With the aid of dispersion relations, these cross sections were used to extract the electric and magnetic polarizabilities, $\bar{\alpha}$ and $\bar{\beta}$ respectively, of the proton. We find $$\bar{\alpha}+\bar{\beta} = ( 15.0 \pm 2.9 \pm 1.1 \pm 0.4 ) \times 10^{-4} \: {\rm fm}^3,$$ in agreement with a model-independent dispersion sum rule, and $$\bar{\alpha}-\bar{\beta} = ( 10.8 \pm 1.1 \pm 1.4 \pm 1.0 ) \times 10^{-4} \: {\rm fm}^3,$$ where the errors shown are statistical, systematic, and model-dependent, respectively. A comparison with previous experiments is given and global values for the polarizabilities are extracted.Comment: 35 pages, 11 PostScript figures, uses RevTex 3.

Scattering of photons by the proton through theta(cms)=90 degrees in the Delta-resonance region

The differential cross section for the scattering of photons by the proton was measured in the energy range E(gamma) = 250-500 MeV at the scattering angle theta(cms) = 90 degrees +/- 3 degrees. The tagged photon beam of the MAMI accelerator was used and both the scattered photon and the recoil proton were detected. The data essentially are consistent with dispersion theories, and remove the discrepancy that has existed above 290 MeV between theory and earlier published experimental results