Reanalysis of Rosenbluth measurements of the proton form factors

TL;DR

This paper reanalyzes past electron-proton scattering data from SLAC experiments, applying updated radiative corrections to resolve discrepancies between different measurement methods and providing revised form factor fits.

Contribution

It offers a new analysis of existing data with improved radiative corrections and presents updated proton form factor measurements over a broad momentum transfer range.

Findings

Revised scattering cross sections with corrected radiative effects

Updated proton electromagnetic form factor fits from 1 to 8.83 GeV^2

Resolution of discrepancies between Rosenbluth and polarization transfer methods

Abstract

We present a reanalysis of the data from Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) experiments E140 [R. C. Walker et al., Phys. Rev. D 49, 5671 (1994)] and NE11 [L. Andivahis et al., Phys. Rev. D 50, 5491 (1994)] on elastic electron-proton scattering. This work is motivated by recent progress in calculating the corresponding radiative corrections and by the apparent discrepancy between the Rosenbluth and polarization transfer measurements of the proton electromagnetic form factors. New, corrected values for the scattering cross sections are presented, as well as a new form factor fit in the $Q^2$ range from 1 to 8.83 $\text{GeV}^2$. We also provide a complete set of revised formulas to account for radiative corrections in single-arm measurements of unpolarized elastic electron-proton scattering.