Strong diquark correlations inside the proton

TL;DR

This paper uses Dyson-Schwinger equations to show that strong diquark correlations inside the proton can explain experimental electromagnetic form factors and scaling behaviors, highlighting their importance in proton structure.

Contribution

It demonstrates that strong diquark correlations are sufficient to account for empirical form factor data within a continuum QCD framework.

Findings

Strong diquark correlations explain flavor-separated form factors.

Diquark correlations account for high-Q^2 form factor ratios.

Results align with experimental observations of proton electromagnetic structure.

Abstract

Quantum Chromodynamics is thought to be the relativistic quantum field theory that describes the strong interaction of the Standard Model. This interaction produces mesons but it is also able to generate quark-quark (diquark) correlations inside baryons. In this work, we employ a continuum approach to QCD based on Dyson-Schwinger equations to calculate the electromagnetic form factors of the proton and analyze in a deeper way the consequences of having strong diquark correlations. Comparison with the experimental data reveals that the presence of strong diquark correlations within the proton is sufficient to understand empirical extractions of the flavour-separated form factors. The explained reduction of the ratios $F_{1}^{d}/F_{1}^{u}$ and $F_{2}^{d}/F_{2}^{u}$ at high $Q^{2}$ in the quark-diquark picture are responsible of the precocious scaling of the $F_{2}^{p}/F_{1}^{p}$ observed experimentally.