No Arabic abstract
We discuss electromagnetic currents in the point-form formulation of relativistic quantum mechanics. The construction is along a spectator model and implies that only one quark is explicitly coupled to the photon, but nevertheless many-body contributions are present in the current operator. Such effects are unavoidable in relativistic constructions and resulting ambiguities are notably reduced by imposing charge normalization and time-reversal invariance. The residual theoretical indetermination introduces small but sizeable changes in the nucleon form-factors, particularly at higher Q-squared values, with the data generally centered in the middle of the theoretical band.
We present a study of the electromagnetic structure of the nucleons with constituent quark models in the framework of relativistic quantum mechanics. In particular, we address the construction of spectator-model currents in the instant and point forms. Corresponding results for the elastic nucleon electromagnetic form factors as well as charge radii and magnetic moments are presented. We also compare results obtained by different realistic nucleon wave functions stemming from alternative constituent quark models. Finally, we discuss the theoretical uncertainties that reside in the construction of spectator-model transition operators.
The relativistic constituent quark model of low-energy quantum chromodynamics is found to yield a consistent picture of the electroweak structure of the nucleons. Notably, the electromagnetic and axial form factors of both the proton and the neutron can be described in close agreement with existing experimental data in the domain of low to moderate momentum transfers. For the theory it is mandatory to respect Poincare invariance and to fulfill additional conditions like charge normalization. Here we present covariant predictions of the one-gluon-exchange and Goldstone-boson-exchange constituent quark models for the electroweak form factors of the nucleons and give a critical discussion of the results in view of the point-form spectator model employed for the electromagnetic and axial current operators.
A dressed-quark core contribution to nucleon electromagnetic form factors is calculated. It is defined by the solution of a Poincare covariant Faddeev equation in which dressed-quarks provide the elementary degree of freedom and correlations between them are expressed via diquarks. The nucleon-photon vertex involves a single parameter; i.e., a diquark charge radius. It is argued to be commensurate with the pions charge radius. A comprehensive analysis and explanation of the form factors is built upon this foundation. A particular feature of the study is a separation of form factor contributions into those from different diagram types and correlation sectors, and subsequently a flavour separation for each of these. Amongst the extensive body of results that one could highlight are: r_1^{n,u}>r_1^{n,d}, owing to the presence of axial-vector quark-quark correlations; and for both the neutron and proton the ratio of Sachs electric and magnetic form factors possesses a zero.
We shortly review point-form quantum field theory, i.e. the canonical quantization of a relativistic field theory on a Lorentz-invariant surface of the form $x_mu x^mu = tau^2$. As an example of how point-form quantum field theory may enter the framework of relativistic quantum mechanics we discuss the calculation of the electromagnetic form factor of a confined quark-antiquark pair (e.g. the pion).
We demonstrate the calculation of the coupling constants and form factors required by effective hadron lagrangians using the quark model. These relations follow from equating expressions for strong transition amplitudes in the two approaches. As examples we derive the NNm nucleon-meson coupling constants and form factors for m = pi, eta, eta, sigma, a_0, omega and rho, using harmonic oscillator quark model meson and baryon wavefunctions and the 3P0 decay model; this is a first step towards deriving a quark-based model of the NN force at all separations. This technique should be useful in the application of effective lagrangians to processes in which the lack of data precludes the direct determination of coupling constants and form factors from experiment.