A novel approach to the global analysis of proton form factors in elastic electron-proton scattering

Abstract

We present a novel method for the global analysis of elastic electron-proton scattering when combining data sets from experiments with different overall normalization uncertainties. The method is a modification of one employed by the NNPDF collaboration in the fitting of parton distribution data. This method is an alternative to the 'penalty trick' method traditionally employed in global fits to proton electric and magnetic form factors, while avoiding the biases inherent in that approach. We discuss issues that arise when extending the method to nonlinear models. For data with $Q^2>1$ GeV${}^2$ we find relatively minor differences to traditional model fits when the normalization uncertainties from different experiments are correctly accounted for. We discuss implications of this method for the well-known discrepancy between the form factor ratio $G_E/G_M$ extracted from the Rosenbluth and polarization transfer techniques.

arXiv comment5 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables

References in corpus (7)

• Two-photon exchange and elastic electron-proton scattering
• How to reconcile the Rosenbluth and the polarization transfer method in the measurement of the proton form factors
• The electric and magnetic form factors of the proton
• Extraction of the proton radius from electron-proton scattering data
• Fitting Parton Distribution Data with Multiplicative Normalization Uncertainties
• Form Factors and Two-Photon Exchange in High-Energy Elastic Electron-Proton Scattering
• Reanalysis of Rosenbluth measurements of the proton form factors

Cited by in corpus (2)

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