Precise determination of the strangeness magnetic moment of the nucleon

Strange Quark Magnetic Moment of the Nucleon at the Physical Point

We report a lattice QCD calculation of the strange quark contribution to the nucleon's magnetic moment and charge radius. This analysis presents the first direct determination of strange electromagnetic form factors including at the physical pion mass. We perform a model-independent extraction of the strange magnetic moment and the strange charge radius from the electromagnetic form factors in the momentum transfer range of 0.051  GeV^{2}≲Q^{2}≲1.31  GeV^{2}. The finite lattice spacing and finite volume corrections are included in a global fit with 24 valence quark masses on four lattices with different lattice spacings, different volumes, and four sea quark masses including one at the physical pion mass. We obtain the strange magnetic moment G_{M}^{s}(0)=-0.064(14)(09)μ_{N}. The four-sigma precision in statistics is achieved partly due to low-mode averaging of the quark loop and low-mode substitution to improve the statistics of the nucleon propagator. We also obtain the strange charge radius ⟨r_{s}^{2}⟩_{E}=-0.0043(16)(14)  fm^{2}.

Determination of the strange nucleon form factors

The strange contribution to the electric and magnetic form factors of the nucleon is determined at a range of discrete values of Q^{2} up to 1.4  GeV^{2}. This is done by combining a recent analysis of lattice QCD results for the electromagnetic form factors of the octet baryons with experimental determinations of those quantities. The most precise result is a small negative value for the strange magnetic moment: G_{M}^{s}(Q^{2}=0)=-0.07±0.03μ_{N}. At larger values of Q^{2} both the electric and magnetic form factors are consistent with zero to within 2 standard deviations.

QCD and strongly coupled gauge theories: challenges and perspectives

We highlight the progress, current status, and open challenges of QCD-driven physics, in theory and in experiment. We discuss how the strong interaction is intimately connected to a broad sweep of physical problems, in settings ranging from astrophysics and cosmology to strongly coupled, complex systems in particle and condensed-matter physics, as well as to searches for physics beyond the Standard Model. We also discuss how success in describing the strong interaction impacts other fields, and, in turn, how such subjects can impact studies of the strong interaction. In the course of the work we offer a perspective on the many research streams which flow into and out of QCD, as well as a vision for future developments.

Strange quark contributions to parity-violating asymmetries in the backward angle G0 electron scattering experiment

We have measured parity-violating asymmetries in elastic electron-proton and quasielastic electron-deuteron scattering at Q2=0.22 and 0.63 GeV2. They are sensitive to strange quark contributions to currents in the nucleon and the nucleon axial-vector current. The results indicate strange quark contributions of approximately < 10% of the charge and magnetic nucleon form factors at these four-momentum transfers. We also present the first measurement of anapole moment effects in the axial-vector current at these four-momentum transfers.

Testing the standard model by precision measurement of the weak charges of quarks

In a global analysis of the latest parity-violating electron scattering measurements on nuclear targets, we demonstrate a significant improvement in the experimental knowledge of the weak neutral-current lepton-quark interactions at low energy. The precision of this new result, combined with earlier atomic parity-violation measurements, places tight constraints on the size of possible contributions from physics beyond the standard model. Consequently, this result improves the lower-bound on the scale of relevant new physics to approximately 1 TeV.

Precision measurements of the nucleon strange form factors at Q2 approximately 0.1 GeV2

We report new measurements of the parity-violating asymmetry A(PV) in elastic scattering of 3 GeV electrons off hydrogen and 4He targets with <theta(lab)> approximately 6.0 degrees . The 4He result is A(PV)=(+6.40+/-0.23(stat)+/-0.12(syst))x10(-6). The hydrogen result is A(PV)=(-1.58+/-0.12(stat)+/-0.04(syst))x10(-6). These results significantly improve constraints on the electric and magnetic strange form factors G(E)(s) and G(M)(s). We extract G(E)(s)=0.002+/-0.014+/-0.007 at <Q(2)>=0.077 GeV2, and G(E)(s)+0.09G(M)(s)=0.007+/-0.011+/-0.006 at <Q(2)>=0.109 GeV2, providing new limits on the role of strange quarks in the nucleon charge and magnetization distributions.

Extracting nucleon strange and anapole form factors from world data

The complete world set of parity-violating electron scattering data up to Q2 approximately 0.3 GeV2 is analyzed. We extract the current experimental determination of the strange electric and magnetic form factors of the proton, as well as the weak axial form factors of the proton and neutron, at Q2=0.1 GeV2. Within experimental uncertainties, we find that the strange form factors are consistent with zero, as are the anapole contributions to the axial form factors. Nevertheless, the correlation between the strange and anapole contributions suggest that there is only a small probability that these form factors all vanish simultaneously.

Strange electric form factor of the proton

By combining the constraints of charge symmetry with new chiral extrapolation techniques and recent low-mass quenched lattice QCD simulations of the individual quark contributions to the electric charge radii of the baryon octet, we obtain an accurate determination of the strange electric charge radius of the proton. While this analysis provides a value for G(E)(s)(Q(2) = 0.1 GeV(2)) in agreement with the best current data, the theoretical error is comparable with that expected from future HAPPEX results from JLab. Together with the earlier determination of G(M)(s), this result considerably constrains the role of hidden flavor in the structure of the nucleon.

Strange-quark contributions to parity-violating asymmetries in the forward g0 electron-proton scattering experiment

We have measured parity-violating asymmetries in elastic electron-proton scattering over the range of momentum transfers 0.12 < or =Q2 < or =1.0 GeV2. These asymmetries, arising from interference of the electromagnetic and neutral weak interactions, are sensitive to strange-quark contributions to the currents of the proton. The measurements were made at Jefferson Laboratory using a toroidal spectrometer to detect the recoiling protons from a liquid hydrogen target. The results indicate nonzero, Q2 dependent, strange-quark contributions and provide new information beyond that obtained in previous experiments.