Virtual Compton scattering and the generalized polarizabilities of the proton atQ2=0.92and 1.76 GeV2
Virtual Compton Scattering (VCS) on the proton has been studied at Jefferson Lab using the exclusive photon electroproduction reaction (e p --> e p gamma). This paper gives a detailed account of the analysis which has led to the determination of the structure functions P{sub LL}-P{sub TT}/epsilon and P{sub LT}, and the electric and magnetic generalized polarizabilities (GPs) alpha{sub E}(Q{sup 2}) and beta{sub M}(Q{sup 2}) at values of the four-momentum transfer squared Q{sup 2} = 0.92 and 1.76 GeV{sup 2}. These data, together with the results of VCS experiments at lower momenta, help building a coherent picture of the electric and magnetic GPs of the proton over the full measured Q{sup 2}-…
Light-front transverse charge densities
We discuss the recent interpretation of quark-distribution functions in the plane transverse to the light-cone direction. Such a mapping is model independent and allows one to build up multidimensional pictures of the hadron and to develop a semi-classical interpretation of the quark dynamics. We comment briefly the results obtained from the form factors of the nucleon. We show that a generalization to a target with arbitrary spin leads to a set of preferred values for the electromagnetic coupling characterizing structureless particles. Finally, we present the Wigner distribution for an unpolarized quark in an unpolarized proton and we propose an interpretation of the observed distortion as…
Three-dimensional imaging of the nucleon in momentum space
Transverse-momentum dependent parton distributions (TMDs) are studied in the framework of quark models. Results for the six T-even TMDs are obtained from the overlap of three-quark light-cone wave functions, using both the chiral quark-soliton model and a light-cone constituent quark model. Furthermore, quark model relations among TMDs are reviewed and their physical origin is discussed in terms of rotational-symmetry properties of the nucleon state in its rest frame.
Two-photon exchange corrections to elastic e− -proton scattering: Full dispersive treatment of πN states at low momentum transfers
We evaluate the pion-nucleon intermediate-state contribution to the two-photon exchange (TPE) correction in the elastic electron-nucleon scattering within a dispersive framework. We calculate the contribution from all $\ensuremath{\pi}N$ partial waves using the MAID parametrization. We provide the corresponding TPE correction to the unpolarized $ep$ scattering cross section in the region of low momentum transfer ${Q}^{2}\ensuremath{\lesssim}0.064\text{ }\text{ }{\mathrm{GeV}}^{2}$, where no analytical continuation into the unphysical region of the TPE scattering amplitudes is required. We compare our result in the forward angular region with an alternative TPE calculation, in terms of struc…
Dispersive evaluation of the D-term form factor in deeply virtual Compton scattering
We present a dispersive representation of the D-term form factor for hard exclusive reactions, using unsubtracted $t$-channel dispersion relations. The $t$-channel unitarity relation is saturated with the contribution of two-pion intermediate states, using the two-pion distributions amplitude for the $\gamma^*\gamma\rightarrow \pi\pi$ subprocess and reconstructing the $\pi\pi\rightarrow N\bar N$ subprocess from available information on pion-nucleon partial-wave helicity amplitudes. Results for the D-term form factor as function of $t$ as well as at $t=0$ are discussed in comparison with available model predictions and phenomenological parametrizations.
Dispersion Theory in Electromagnetic Interactions
We review various applications of dispersion relations (DRs) to the electromagnetic structure of hadrons. We discuss the way DRs allow one to extract information on hadron structure constants by connecting information from complementary scattering processes. We consider the real and virtual Compton scattering processes off the proton, and summarize recent advances in the DR analysis of experimental data to extract the proton polarizabilities, in comparison with alternative studies based on chiral effective field theories. We discuss a multipole analysis of real Compton scattering data, along with a DR fit of the energy-dependent dynamical polarizabilities. Furthermore, we review new sum rul…
International workshop on next generation gamma-ray source
Journal of physics / G 49(1), 010502 (2022). doi:10.1088/1361-6471/ac2827
Higher order forward spin polarizability
As a guideline for future experiments to extract the four (leading) spin polarizabilities of the nucleon, we have constructed the forward amplitude for polarized Compton scattering by dispersion integrals. These integrals have been saturated by recently measured helicity-dependent photoabsorption cross sections as well as predictions for pion photoproduction multipoles from several phenomenological descriptions and chiral perturbation theory. The comparison of these results corroborates the strategy to extract the spin polarizabilities by fitting them to polarized Compton data and fixing all higher order spin effects by dispersion relations based on pion photoproduction multipoles.
Beam normal spin asymmetry for the ep→eΔ(1232) process
We calculate the single spin asymmetry for the $e p \to e \Delta(1232)$ process, for an electron beam polarized normal to the scattering plane. Such single spin asymmetries vanish in the one-photon exchange approximation, and are directly proportional to the absorptive part of a two-photon exchange amplitude. As the intermediate state in such two-photon exchange process is on its mass shell, the asymmetry allows one to access for the first time the on-shell $\Delta \to \Delta$ as well as $N^\ast \to \Delta$ electromagnetic transitions. We present the general formalism to describe the $e p \to e \Delta$ beam normal spin asymmetry, and provide a numerical estimate of its value using the nucle…
Two-photon exchange contribution to elastic e− -proton scattering: Full dispersive treatment of πN states and comparison with data
We evaluate the two-photon exchange correction to the elastic electron-proton scattering cross section within a dispersive framework. Besides the elastic contribution, we account for all $\ensuremath{\pi}N$ intermediate state contributions using the phenomenological MAID fit as an input. We develop a novel method for the analytical continuation of the two-photon exchange amplitudes into the unphysical region and generalize our previous work to the momentum transfer region $0.064\text{ }\text{ }{\mathrm{GeV}}^{2}\ensuremath{\lesssim}{Q}^{2}\ensuremath{\lesssim}1\text{ }\text{ }{\mathrm{GeV}}^{2}$. We compare our results with recent OLYMPUS, CLAS and VEPP-3 data as well as with empirical fits…
Transverse-Momentum Distributions and Spherical Symmetry
Transverse-momentum dependent parton distributions (TMDs) are studied in the framework of quark models. In particular, quark model relations among TMDs are reviewed and their physical origin is discussed in terms of rotational-symmetry properties of the nucleon state in its rest frame.
Unified framework for generalized and transverse-momentum dependent parton distributions within a 3Q light-cone picture of the nucleon
We present a systematic study of generalized transverse-momentum dependent parton distributions (GTMDs). By taking specific limits or projections, these GTMDs yield various transverse-momentum dependent and generalized parton distributions, thus providing a unified framework to simultaneously model different observables. We present such simultaneous modeling by considering a light-cone wave function overlap representation of the GTMDs. We construct the different quark-quark correlation functions from the 3-quark Fock components within both the light-front constituent quark model as well as within the chiral quark-soliton model. We provide a comparison with available data and make prediction…