No Arabic abstract
We examine the contribution of the pion cloud to the electromagnetic $N rightarrow Delta$ transition form factors within a relativistic hybrid constituent-quark model. In this model baryons consist not only of the $3q$ valence component, but contain, in addition, a $3 q pi$ non-valence component. We start with constituent quarks which are subject to a scalar, isoscalar confining force. This leads to an $SU(6)$ spin-flavor symmetric spectrum with degenerate nucleon and Delta masses. Mass splitting is caused by pions which are assumed to couple directly to the quarks. The point-form of relativistic quantum mechanics is employed to achieve a relativistically invariant description of this system. The $N rightarrow Delta$ transition current is then determined from the one-photon exchange contribution to the $Delta$ electroproduction amplitude. We will give predictions for the ratios $R_{EM}$ and $R_{SM}$ of electric to magnetic and Coulomb to magnetic form factors, which are supposed to be most sensitive to pion-cloud effects.
We study the electromagnetic structure of the nucleon within a hybrid constituent-quark model that comprises, in addition to the $3q$ valence component, also a $3q$+$pi$ non-valence component. To this aim we employ a Poincare-invariant multichannel formulation based on the point-form of relativistic quantum mechanics. With a simple 3-quark wave function for the bare nucleon, i.e. the $3q$-component, we obtain reasonable results for the nucleon form factors and predict the meson-cloud contribution to be significant only below $Q^2lesssim 0.5$,GeV$^2$ amounting to about 10% for $Q^2rightarrow 0$, in accordance with the findings of other authors.
We analyze the low-$Q^2$ behavior of the axial form factor $G_A(Q^2)$, the induced pseudoscalar form factor $G_P(Q^2)$, and the axial nucleon-to-$Delta$ transition form factors $C^A_5(Q^2)$ and $C^A_6(Q^2)$. Building on the results of chiral perturbation theory, we first discuss $G_A(Q^2)$ in a chiral effective-Lagrangian model including the $a_1$ meson and determine the relevant coupling parameters from a fit to experimental data. With this information, the form factor $G_P(Q^2)$ can be predicted. For the determination of the transition form factor $C^A_5(Q^2)$ we make use of an SU(6) spin-flavor quark-model relation to fix two coupling constants such that only one free parameter is left. Finally, the transition form factor $C^A_6(Q^2)$ can be predicted in terms of $G_P(Q^2)$, the mean-square axial radius $langle r^2_Arangle$, and the mean-square axial nucleon-to-$Delta$ transition radius $langle r^2_{ANDelta}rangle$.
We obtain the distribution amplitude (DA) of the pion from its light-front wave functions in the basis light-front quantization framework. This light-front wave function of the pion is given by the lowest eigenvector of a light-front effective Hamiltonian consisting a three-dimensional confinement potential and the color-singlet Nambu--Jona-Lasinion interaction both between the constituent quark and antiquark. The quantum chromodynamics (QCD) evolution of the DA is subsequently given by the perturbative Efremov-Radyushkin-Brodsky-Lepage evolution equation. Based on this DA, we then evaluate the singly and doubly virtual transition form factors in the space-like region for $pi^0rightarrow gamma^*gamma$ and $pi^0rightarrow gamma^*gamma^*$ processes using the hard-scattering formalism. Our prediction for the pion-photon transition form factor agrees well with data reported by the Belle Collaboration. However, in the large $Q^2$ region it deviates from the rapid growth reported by the BaBar Collaboration. Meanwhile, our result on the $pi^0rightarrow gamma^*gamma^*$ transition form factor is also consistent with other theoretical approaches and agrees with the scaling behavior predicted by perturbative QCD.
We present a new method to determine the momentum dependence of the N to Delta transition form factors and demonstrate its effectiveness in the quenched theory at $beta=6.0$ on a $32^3 times 64$ lattice. We address a number of technical issues such as the optimal combination of matrix elements and the simultaneous overconstrained analysis of all lattice vector momenta contributing to a given momentum transfer squared, $Q^2$.
The C2/M1 ratio of the electromagnetic N->Delta(1232) transition, which is important for determining the geometric shape of the nucleon, is shown to be related to the neutron elastic form factor ratio G_C^n/G_M^n. The proposed relation holds with good accuracy for the entire range of momentum transfers where data are available.