The transition gamma_{v}pN^* amplitudes (electrocouplings) for prominent excited nucleon states obtained in a wide area of photon virtualities offer valuable information for the exploration of the N^* structure at different distances and allow us to
access the complex dynamics of non-perturbative strong interaction. The current status in the studies of gamma_{v}pN^* electrocouplings from the data on exclusive meson electroproduction off protons measured with the CLAS detector at Jefferson Lab is presented. The impact of these results on exploration of the N^* structure is discussed.
The transition helicity amplitudes from the proton ground state to the $P_{11}(1440)$ and $D_{13}(1520)$ excited states ($gamma_{v}pN^*$ electrocouplings) were determined from the analysis of nine independent one-fold differential $pi^{+} pi^{-} p$ e
lectroproduction cross sections off a proton target, taken with CLAS at photon virtualities 0.25enskip {rm GeV$^{2}$} $<$ $Q^{2}$ $<$ 0.60 enskip {rm GeV$^{2}$}. The phenomenological reaction model was employed for separation of the resonant and non-resonant contributions to the final state. The $P_{11}(1440)$ and $D_{13}(1520)$ electrocouplings were obtained from the resonant amplitudes parametrized within the framework of a unitarized Breit-Wigner ansatz. They are consistent with results obtained in the previous CLAS analyses of the $pi^+n$ and $pi^0p$ channels. The successful description of a large body of data in dominant meson-electroproduction channels off protons with the same $gamma_{v}pN^*$ electrocouplings offers clear evidence for the reliable extraction of these fundamental quantities from meson-electroproduction data. This analysis also led to the determination of the long-awaited hadronic branching ratios for the $D_{13}(1520)$ decay into $Deltapi$ (24%-32%) and $Nrho$ (8%-17%).
This document outlines major directions in theoretical support for the measurement of nucleon resonance transition form factors at the JLab 12 GeV upgrade with the CLAS12 detector. Using single and double meson production, prominent resonances in the
mass range up to 2 GeV will be studied in the range of photon virtuality $Q^2$ up to 12 GeV$^2$ where quark degrees of freedom are expected to dominate. High level theoretical analysis of these data will open up opportunities to understand how the interactions of dressed quarks create the ground and excited nucleon states and how these interactions emerge from QCD. The paper reviews the current status and the prospects of QCD based model approaches that relate phenomenological information on transition form factors to the non-perturbative strong interaction mechanisms, that are responsible for resonance formation.
