Electroexcitation of nucleon resonances

TL;DR

This review summarizes recent experimental and theoretical advances in understanding nucleon resonance electroexcitation, highlighting key results for several resonances and comparing them with various QCD-based models.

Contribution

It provides the first comprehensive comparison of electroexcitation amplitudes with lattice QCD, large-Nc, pQCD, and models, and discusses new insights into resonance structures and transition form factors.

Findings

Delta(1232) amplitudes show large pion-cloud contributions at low Q2.

First measurements of N(1440) P11 support it as a radial excitation.

N(1520) D13 confirms the quark model prediction of helicity dominance change.

Abstract

We review recent progress in the investigation of the electroexcitation of nucleon resonances, both in experiment and in theory. The most accurate results have been obtained for the electroexcitation amplitudes of the four lowest excited states, which have been measured in a range of Q2 up to 8 and 4.5 GeV2 for the Delta(1232)P33, N(1535)S11 and N(1440)P11, N(1520)D13}, respectively. These results have been confronted with calculations based on lattice QCD, large-Nc relations, perturbative QCD (pQCD), and QCD-inspired models. The amplitudes for the Delta(1232) indicate large pion-cloud contributions at low Q2 and don't show any sign of approaching the pQCD regime for Q2<7 GeV2. Measured for the first time, the electroexcitation amplitudes of the Roper resonance, N(1440)P11, provide strong evidence for this state as a predominantly radial excitation of a three-quark (3q) ground state, with additional non-3-quark contributions needed to describe the low Q2 behavior of the amplitudes. The longitudinal transition amplitude for the N(1535)S11 was determined and has become a challenge for quark models. Explanations may require large meson-cloud contributions or alternative representations of this state. The N(1520)D13 clearly shows the rapid changeover from helicity-3/2 dominance at the real photon point to helicity-1/2 dominance at Q2 > 0.5 GeV2, confirming a long-standing prediction of the constituent quark model. The interpretation of the moments of resonance transition form factors in terms of transition transverse charge distributions in infinite momentum frame is presented.