Virtual Compton scattering off the nucleon in chiral perturbation theory

We investigate the spin-independent part of the virtual Compton scattering (VCS) amplitude off the nucleon within the framework of chiral perturbation theory. We perform a consistent calculation to third order in external momenta according to Weinberg's power counting. With this calculation we can determine the second- and fourth-order structure-dependent coefficients of the general low-energy expansion of the spin-averaged VCS amplitude based on gauge invariance, crossing symmetry and the discrete symmetries. We discuss the kinematical regime to which our calculation can be applied and compare our expansion with the multipole expansion by Guichon, Liu and Thomas. We establish the connectio…

Generalized polarizabilities of the nucleon in chiral effective theories

Using the techniques of chiral effective field theories we evaluate the so called generalized polarizabilities of the nucleon, which characterize the structure dependent components in virtual Compton scattering (VCS) as probed in the electron scattering reaction e N \to e' N gamma. Results are given for both spin-dependent and spin-independent structure effects to O(p^3) in SU(2) Heavy Baryon Chiral Perturbation Theory and to O(epsilon^3) in the SU(2) Small Scale Expansion. Finally we compare our calculations with results from the pioneering VCS experiment on the proton from Mainz.

Generalized Polarizabilities and the Chiral Structure of the Nucleon

We are studying the electron scattering process e p to e' p' gamma in order to obtain information on the genuine virtual Compton scattering (VCS) process gamma^* N to gamma N. In addition to the two kinematical variables of real Compton scattering, e.g. the scattering angle theta and the energy omega' of the outgoing photon, the invariant amplitude for VCS depends on a third kinematical variable, which we choose as the absolute value of the three-momentum transfer to the nucleon. The structure-dependent coefficients in the VCS amplitude therefore acquire a momentum dependence and are termed ``generalized polarizabilities'' of the nucleon in analogy to real Compton scattering. Utilizing the …

Working group on hadron polarizabilities and form factors

Radiative pion capture by a nucleon

The differential cross sections for $\pi^- p \to \gamma n$ and $\pi^+ n \to \gamma p$ are computed up to $O(p^3)$ in heavy baryon chiral perturbation theory (HBChPT). The expressions at $O(p)$ and $O(p^2)$ have no free parameters. There are three unknown parameters at $O(p^3)$, low energy constants of the HBChPT Lagrangian, which are determined by fitting to experimental data. Two acceptable fits are obtained, which can be separated by comparing with earlier dispersion relation calculations of the inverse process. Expressions for the multipoles, with emphasis on the p-wave multipoles, are obtained and evaluated at threshold. Generally the results obtained from the best of the two fits are i…