No Arabic abstract
We consider the Dirac equation for a finite-size neutron in an external electric field. We explicitly incorporate Dirac-Pauli form factors into the Dirac equation. After a non-relativistic reduction, the Darwin-Foldy term is cancelled by a contribution from the Dirac form factor, so that the only coefficient of the external field charge density is $e/6 r^2_{En}$, i. e. the root mean square radius associated with the electric Sachs form factor . Our result is similar to a recent result of Isgur, and reconciles two apparently conflicting viewpoints about the use of the Dirac equation for the description of nucleons.
We present a high-accuracy calculation of the deuteron structure radius in chiral effective field theory. Our analysis employs the state-of-the-art semilocal two-nucleon potentials and takes into account two-body contributions to the charge density operators up to fifth order in the chiral expansion. The strength of the fifth-order short-range two-body contribution to the charge density operator is adjusted to the experimental data on the deuteron charge form factor. A detailed error analysis is performed by propagating the statistical uncertainties of the low-energy constants entering the two-nucleon potentials and by estimating errors from the truncation of the chiral expansion as well as from uncertainties in the nucleon form factors. Using the predicted value for the deuteron structure radius together with the very accurate atomic data for the difference of the deuteron and proton charge radii we, for the first time, extract the charge radius of the neutron from light nuclei. The extracted value reads $r_n^2 = - 0.106 substack{ +0.007 -0.005} , text{fm}^2$ and its magnitude is about $1.7sigma$ smaller than the current value given by the Particle Data Group. In addition, given the high accuracy of the calculated deuteron charge form factor and its careful and systematic error analysis, our results open the way for an accurate determination of the nucleon form factors from elastic electron-deuteron scattering data measured at the Mainz Microtron and other experimental facilities.
The neutron is a cornerstone in our depiction of the visible universe. Despite the neutron zero-net electric charge, the asymmetric distribution of the positively- (up) and negatively-charged (down) quarks, a result of the complex quark-gluon dynamics, lead to a negative value for its squared charge radius, $langle r_{rm n}^2 rangle$. The precise measurement of the neutrons charge radius thus emerges as an essential part of unraveling its structure. Here we report on a $langle r_{rm n}^2 rangle$ measurement, based on the extraction of the neutron electric form factor, $G_{rm E}^{rm n}$, at low four-momentum transfer squared $(Q^2)$ by exploiting the long known connection between the $N rightarrow Delta$ quadrupole transitions and the neutron electric form factor. Our result, $langle r_{rm n}^2 rangle = -0.110 pm0.008~({rm fm}^2)$, addresses long standing unresolved discrepancies in the $langle r_{rm n}^2 rangle$ determination. The dynamics of the strong nuclear force can be viewed through the precise picture of the neutrons constituent distributions that result into the non-zero $langle r_{rm n}^2 rangle$ value.
It is suggested that proton elastic scattering on atomic electrons allows a precise measurement of the proton charge radius. Very small values of transferred momenta (up to four order of magnitude smaller than the ones presently available) can be reached with high probability.
On the basis of recent precise measurements of the electric form factor of the proton, the Zemach moments, needed as input parameters for the determination of the proton rms radius from the measurement of the Lamb shift in muonic hydrogen, are calculated. It turns out that the new moments give an uncertainty as large as the presently stated error of the recent Lamb shift measurement of Pohl et al.. De Rujulas idea of a large Zemach moment in order to reconcile the five standard deviation discrepancy between the muonic Lamb shift determination and the result of electronic experiments is shown to be in clear contradiction with experiment. Alternative explanations are touched upon.
We present a feasibility study of a simultaneous sub-percent extraction of the weak charge and the weak radius of the ${}^{12}$C nucleus using parity-violating electron scattering, based on a largely model-independent assessment of the uncertainties. The corresponding measurement is considered to be carried out at the future MESA facility in Mainz with $E_{rm beam} = 155$ MeV. We find that a combination of a $0.3%$ precise measurement of the parity-violating asymmetry at forward angles with a $10%$ measurement at backward angles will allow to determine the weak charge and the weak radius of ${}^{12}$C with $0.4%$ and $0.5%$ precision, respectively. These values could be improved to $0.3%$ and $0.2%$ for a $3%$ backward measurement. This experimental program will have impact on precision low-energy tests in the electroweak sector and nuclear structure.