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Recent Results on Proton Charge Radius and Polarizabilities

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Abstract

The proton charge radius and nucleon electromagnetic polarizabilities are fundamental properties probing the electromagnetic structure of the nucleons. Proton charge radius is directly related to the proton charge distribution and the nucleon electromagnetic polarizabilities characterize the response of the charge/magnetic constituents inside the nucleon to external electromagnetic fields. A precise understanding of these quantities is crucial not only for understanding how quantum chromodynamics (QCD) works in the non-perturbative QCD region but also for bound state quantum electrodynamics (QED) calculations of atomic energy levels. We discuss the experimental approaches employed in the recent decades to determine the proton charge radius and nucleon electromagnetic polarizabilities. We summarize the present status of the proton charge radius puzzle and polarizabilities measurements. Additionally, we provide prospects for various upcoming experiments.

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Acknowledgements

The work of Haiyan Gao and Jingyi Zhou within the PRad and Compton collaboration is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Nuclear Physics under contract DE-FG02-03ER41231.

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  1. Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory, Department of Physics, Duke University, Durham, NC, 27708, USA

    Haiyan Gao & Jingyi Zhou

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HG was the speaker at the 25th European conference on few-body problems in physics. JZ wrote the main manuscript text based on HG’s presentation. HG reviewed the manuscript and revised the work.

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Correspondence to Jingyi Zhou.

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25EFB: 25th European Conference on Few-Body Problems in Physics, July 30–August 4, 2023, Alte Mensa.

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Gao, H., Zhou, J. Recent Results on Proton Charge Radius and Polarizabilities. Few-Body Syst 65, 8 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00601-024-01878-5

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