High-accuracy calculation of the deuteron charge and quadrupole form factors in chiral effective field theory

TL;DR

This paper uses chiral effective field theory to accurately calculate deuteron charge and quadrupole form factors, refining predictions of deuteron structure and neutron charge radius with comprehensive uncertainty analysis.

Contribution

It provides a high-precision calculation of deuteron form factors using updated two-nucleon potentials and charge operators, and refines the neutron charge radius determination.

Findings

Predicted deuteron structure radius: 1.9729 fm

Predicted quadrupole moment: 0.2854 fm^2

Updated neutron charge radius: -0.105 fm^2

Abstract

We present a comprehensive analysis of the deuteron charge and quadrupole form factors based on the latest two-nucleon potentials and charge density operators derived in chiral effective field theory. The single- and two-nucleon contributions to the charge density are expressed in terms of the proton and neutron form factors, for which the most up-to-date empirical parametrizations are employed. By adjusting the fifth-order short-range terms in the two-nucleon charge density operator to reproduce the world data on the momentum-transfer dependence of the deuteron charge and quadrupole form factors, we predict the values of the structure radius and the quadrupole moment of the deuteron: $r_{\rm str}=1.9729\substack{+0.0015\\ -0.0012}\ \text{fm},\ Q_d=0.2854\substack{+0.0038\\ -0.0017}\ \text{fm}^2. $ A comprehensive and systematic analysis of various sources of uncertainty in our predictions is performed. Following the strategy advocated in our recent publication Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 082501 (2020), we employ the extracted structure radius together with the accurate atomic data for the deuteron-proton mean-square charge radii difference to update the determination of the neutron charge radius, for which we find: $r_n^2=-0.105\substack{+0.005\\ -0.006} \, \text{fm}^2$. Given the observed rapid convergence of the deuteron form factors in the momentum-transfer range of $Q \simeq 1-2.5$ fm$^{-1}$, we argue that this intermediate-energy domain is particularly sensitive to the details of the nucleon form factors and can be used to test different parametrizations.