Proton Shell Structure

TL;DR

This paper proposes a shell structure model for the proton, analyzing experimental data across energy scales to reveal energy-dependent quark and gluon shells, and explains scattering cross section features.

Contribution

It introduces a novel shell structure model of the proton based on mass distribution and explains experimental scattering data.

Findings

Proton has an internal shell structure that varies with energy scale.

The model explains the dip in proton-proton elastic scattering cross sections.

Quark and gluon shells are energy-scale-dependent.

Abstract

We study the internal structure of the proton and propose a shell structure model of the proton. Based on the mass distribution and mass radius of proton we analyze the experiments at different energy scales and conclude that there should be shell structure inside proton, and the quark and gluon shells are energy-scale-dependent. We successfully explain the dip-like structure in the proton-proton elastic scattering cross section distribution from TOTEM Collaboration using the mass decomposition of proton and the proton shell structure at different energy scales.