Isospin breaking in the vector current of the nucleon

Extraction of the nucleon's strange form factors from experimental data requires a quantitative understanding of the unavoidable contamination from isospin violation. A number of authors have addressed this issue during the past decade, and their work is reviewed here. The predictions from early models are largely consistent with recent results that rely as much as possible on input from QCD symmetries and related experimental data. The resulting bounds on isospin violation are sufficiently precise to be of value to on-going experimental and theoretical studies of the nucleon's strange form factors.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures. Presented at the International Workshop "From Parity Violation to Hadronic Structure and more...", Milos, Greece, 16-20 May 2006. Version 2 is only to update Refs. [21] and [25

Invariant Amplitudes for Pion Electroproduction

The invariant amplitudes for pion electroproduction on the nucleon are evaluated by dispersion relations at constant t with MAID as input for the imaginary parts of these amplitudes. In the threshold region these amplitudes are confronted with the predictions of several low-energy theorems derived in the soft-pion limit. In general agreement with Chiral Perturbation Theory, the dispersive approach yields large corrections to these theorems because of the finite pion mass.Comment: 18 pages, 8 figure

Local Duality Predictions for x ~ 1 Structure Functions

Recent data on the proton F_2 structure function in the resonance region suggest that local quark-hadron duality works remarkably well for each of the low-lying resonances, including the elastic, to rather low values of Q^2. We derive model-independent relations between structure functions at x ~ 1 and elastic electromagnetic form factors, and predict the x -> 1 behavior of nucleon polarization asymmetries and the neutron to proton structure function ratios from available data on nucleon electric and magnetic form factors.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures, typos in Eq. (2) correcte

Baryon Charge Radii and Quadrupole Moments in the 1/N_c Expansion: The 3-Flavor Case

We develop a straightforward method to compute charge radii and quadrupole moments for baryons both with and without strangeness, when the number of QCD color charges is N_c. The minimal assumption of the single-photon exchange ansatz implies that only two operators are required to describe these baryon observables. Our results are presented so that SU(3) flavor and isospin symmetry breaking can be introduced according to any desired specification, although we also present results obtained from two patterns suggested by the quark model with gluon exchange interactions. The method also permits to extract a number of model-independent relations; a sample is r^2_Lambda / r_n^2 = 3/(N_c+3), independent of SU(3) symmetry breaking.Comment: 30 pages, no figures, REVTeX

D-state configurations in the electromagnetic form factors of the nucleon and the Delta(1232) resonance

The $\Delta-N$ electromagnetic transition form factors are calculated in the Poincar\'e covariant quark model in three forms of relativistic kinematics. Addition of $D-$state components to pure $S-$state model wave functions, chosen so as to reproduce the empirical elastic electromagnetic nucleon form factors with single constituent currents, brings the calculated $R_{EM}$ ratio for the $\Delta(1232)\to N\gamma$ transition closer to the empirical values in instant and point form kinematics. The calculated $R_{SM}$ ratio is insensitive to the $D-$state component. In front form kinematics the substantial violation of the angular condition for the spin 3/2 resonance transition amplitude in the impulse approximation prevents a unique determination of $R_{EM}$ and $R_{SM}$, both of which are very sensitive to $D-$state components. In no form of kinematics do $D-$state deformations of the rest frame baryon wave functions alone suffice for a description of the empirical values of these ratios.Comment: 11 figures, elsevier forma

The size of the proton - closing in on the radius puzzle

We analyze the recent electron-proton scattering data from Mainz using a dispersive framework that respects the constraints from analyticity and unitarity on the nucleon structure. We also perform a continued fraction analysis of these data. We find a small electric proton charge radius, r_E^p = 0.84_{-0.01}^{+0.01} fm, consistent with the recent determination from muonic hydrogen measurements and earlier dispersive analyses. We also extract the proton magnetic radius, r_M^p = 0.86_{-0.03}^{+0.02} fm, consistent with earlier determinations based on dispersion relations.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, fit improved, small modifications, section on continued fractions modified, conclusions on the proton charge radius unchanged, version accepted for publication in European Physical Journal

Spectral functions of isoscalar scalar and isovector electromagnetic form factors of the nucleon at two-loop order

We calculate the imaginary parts of the isoscalar scalar and isovector electromagnetic form factors of the nucleon up to two-loop order in chiral perturbation theory. Particular attention is paid on the correct behavior of Im $\sigma_N(t)$ and Im $G_{E,M}^V(t)$ at the two-pion threshold $t_0=4 m_\pi^2$ in connection with the non-relativistic 1/M-expansion. We recover the well-known strong enhancement near threshold originating from the nearby anomalous singularity at $t_c = 4m_\pi^2-m_\pi^4/M^2 = 3.98 m_\pi^2$. In the case of the scalar spectral function Im $\sigma_N(t)$ one finds a significant improvement in comparison to the lowest order one-loop result. Higher order $\pi\pi$-rescattering effects are however still necessary to close a remaining 20%-gap to the empirical scalar spectral function. The isovector electric and magnetic spectral functions Im $G_{E,M}^V(t)$ get additionally enhanced near threshold by the two-pion-loop contributions. After supplementing their two-loop results by a phenomenological $\rho$-meson exchange term one can reproduce the empirical isovector electric and magnetic spectral functions fairly well.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Physical Review

No Sommerfeld resummation factor in e+e- -> ppbar ?

The Sommerfeld rescattering formula is compared to the e+e- -> ppbar BaBar data at threshold and above. While there is the expected Coulomb enhancement at threshold, two unexpected outcomes have been found: |G^p (4M_p^2)|= 1, like for a pointlike fermion, and moreover data show that the resummation factor in the Sommerfeld formula is not needed. Other e+e- -> baryon-antibaryon cross sections show a similar behavior near threshold.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure

The GDH Sum Rule and Related Integrals

The spin structure of the nucleon resonance region is analyzed on the basis of our phenomenological model MAID. Predictions are given for the Gerasimov-Drell-Hearn sum rule as well as generalized integrals over spin structure functions. The dependence of these integrals on momentum transfer is studied and rigorous relationships between various definitions of generalized Gerasimov-Drell-Hearn integrals and spin polarizabilities are derived. These results are compared to the predictions of chiral perturbation theory and phenomenological models.Comment: 15 pages LaTeX including 5 figure

Spin structure of the nucleon at low energies

The spin structure of the nucleon is analyzed in the framework of a Lorentz-invariant formulation of baryon chiral perturbation theory. The structure functions of doubly virtual Compton scattering are calculated to one-loop accuracy (fourth order in the chiral expansion). We discuss the generalization of the Gerasimov-Drell-Hearn sum rule, the Burkhardt-Cottingham sum rule and moments of these. We give predictions for the forward and the longitudinal-transverse spin polarizabilities of the proton and the neutron at zero and finite photon virtuality. A detailed comparison to results obtained in heavy baryon chiral perturbation theory is also given.Comment: 29 pp, 14 fig