Parity-Violating Electron Scattering and the Electric and Magnetic Strange Form Factors of the Nucleon

Abstract

Measurement of the neutral weak vector form factors of the nucleon provides unique access to the strange quark content of the nucleon. These form factors can be studied using parity-violating electron scattering. A comprehensive program of experiments has been performed at three accelerator laboratories to determine the role of strange quarks in the electromagnetic form factors of the nucleon. This article reviews the remarkable technical progress associated with this program, describes the various methods used in the different experiments, and summarizes the physics results along with recent theoretical calculations.

Invited review for Annual Reviews of Nuclear and Particle Science, Oct 2012; as per Ann. Rev. policy, this is the originally submitted version, before refereeing and editorial work

References in corpus (6)

• Parton distributions for the LHC
• Measurement of Strange Quark Contributions to the Vector Form Factors of the Proton at Q**2=0.22 (GeV/c)**2
• The SAMPLE Experiment and Weak Nucleon Structure
• Testing the Standard Model by precision measurement of the weak charges of quarks
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• The Qweak Experiment -- A search for new physics at the TeV Scale

Cited by in corpus (17)

• 50 Years of Quantum Chromodynamics
• Precision Measurement of the Weak Charge of the Proton
• Proton and neutron electromagnetic form factors and uncertainties
• Standard Model anatomy of WIMP dark matter direct detection II: QCD analysis and hadronic matrix elements
• Towards a resolution of the proton form factor problem: new electron and positron scattering data
• New insights into the nucleon's electromagnetic structure
• Flavor Structure of the Nucleon Sea
• Dispersion-theoretical analysis of the electromagnetic form factors of the nucleon: Past, present and future
• Strange quark asymmetry in the proton in chiral effective theory
• The Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility at 12 GeV
• Constraining nucleon strangeness
• First Determination of the 27Al Neutron Distribution Radius from a Parity-Violating Electron Scattering Measurement
• Strangeness content of the pion in the U(3) Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model
• Charge Symmetry Violation in the Electromagnetic Form Factors of the Proton
• Global Fit of Electron and Neutrino Elastic Scattering Data to Determine the Strange Quark Contribution to the Vector and Axial Form Factors of the Nucleon
• Chiral Analysis of the Nucleon Mass and Sigma Commutator
• Baryon Form Factors