We compute the electromagnetic form factors of the nucleon in the Poincaré-covariant Faddeev framework based on the Dyson-Schwinger equations of QCD. The general expression for a baryon’s electromagnetic current in terms of three interacting dressed quarks is derived. Upon employing a rainbow-ladder gluon-exchange kernel for the quark-quark interaction, the nucleon’s Faddeev amplitude and electromagnetic form factors are computed without any further truncations or model assumptions. The form-factor results show clear evidence of missing pion-cloud effects below a photon momentum transfer of $\sim 2{\mathrm{GeV}}^2$ and in the chiral region, whereas they agree well with experimental data at higher photon momenta. Thus, the approach reflects the properties of the nucleon’s quark core.

• Received 28 April 2011

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.84.014014