On the QED corrections to elastic electron scattering at high momentum transfer

TL;DR

This paper evaluates QED and dispersion effects on elastic electron scattering from carbon-12 at high energies, highlighting model sensitivities near diffraction minima and questioning previous assumptions about discrepancies.

Contribution

It provides detailed estimates of QED and dispersion corrections at high energies and analyzes their impact on scattering cross sections, especially near diffraction minima.

Findings

QED and dispersion effects vary smoothly with energy but show structures near diffraction minima.

Model details significantly influence the corrections near diffraction minima.

Discrepancies in experimental data may not be solely due to dispersion effects.

Abstract

Estimates of QED and dispersion effects on the cross section for elastic electron scattering from a 12C nucleus are provided for collision energies in the range of 120-450 MeV. While in general such corrections are smoothly varying with energy or scattering angle, they show structures in the vicinity of diffraction minima which are very sensitive to details of the theoretical models. This casts doubt on the assertion that the discrepancy between QED background-corrected experimental data and theory in these minima originates solely from dispersion.