The chiral structure of the neutron as revealed in electron and photon scattering

TL;DR

This paper explores how the neutron's chiral structure, influenced by QCD's broken symmetry, affects its electromagnetic responses, especially through pion cloud excitations observed in form factors and Compton scattering.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of the neutron's electromagnetic structure emphasizing the role of chiral symmetry and pion cloud effects in scattering experiments.

Findings

Neutron response is dominated by pion cloud at long wavelengths.

Electromagnetic form factors reflect chiral symmetry breaking effects.

Interplay between long-range pion effects and short-distance structure is significant.

Abstract

It is a consequence of QCD's spontaneously broken chiral symmetry that the response of the neutron to long wavelength probes will be driven by excitation of its pion cloud. In this article I discuss manifestations of this in electromagnetic form factors and Compton scattering. Particular attention is given to the interplay between this physics and shorter-distance components of the neutron's electromagnetic structure.