Nucleon structure and Compton scattering

Xuefei Yan March 6, 2013

Abstract

One of the most important and basic building blocks of the universe and human beings are nucleons. In the regime of quark connement in nucleons, Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) becomes non-perturbative, and with current techniques, cannot describe the nucleon structure quantitatively. To quantitatively explain the experimental data of the nucleons, the behavior of the nucleons under external eld needs to be described by Eective Field Theory (EFT) and relevant parameters. A lot of EFT and experimental eort has been devoted to Compton scattering of photons by nucleons, because of the well-understood properties of electromagnetic (EM) interaction. The interaction between electromagnetic eld and nucleons is parametrized with parameters named polarizability. This paper will go through the EFT theory for the nucleon structure and experimental extraction of the relevant parameters.

Hamiltonian and polarizabilities

A common way to investigate the Compton scattering of photons from nucleons is to expand the Hamiltonian of interaction to dierent orders of photon energy ( ) [1, 2]. The number of order is determined by the number of power of the photon energy. For example, electric eld and magnetic eld are with order 1, because they are spatial and time derivatives of the vector potential eld, respectively, while the vector potential eld is dened to be order 0.

2.1

Lowest order Hamiltonian

The lowest order Hamiltonian is well dened in Electrodynamics. H (0) = (p ZeA)2 + Ze 2M (1)

p stands for momentum of the charged particle (nucleon in this case), A for vector potential of the EM eld, e for the unit electric charge, Z for number of unit charges of the nucleon and for electric potential from the EM eld. The interaction between magnetic eld from the EM eld and the magnetic dipole moment of the nucleon can be written as the following. H (1) = B stands for the magnectic dipole moment of the nucleon and B for the magnetic eld. 1 (2)

2.2

Second order Hamiltonian and electromagnetic polarizabilities

The second order Hamiltonian can also be found by using basic Electrodynamics [2]. 1 H (2) = 4 [E 1 E 2 + M 1 B 2 ] (3) 2 In the equation above, the nucleon structure enters the Hamiltonian as and (electric and magnetic polarizabilities). The interpretation of these quantities are the electric and magnetic polarization of the nucleon under external eld. When using the Hamiltonian to calculate the dierential cross section of Compton scattering, and are Compton polarizabilities instead of static electromagnetic ones. The dierence disappears in the non-relativistic limit [2].

2.3

Third order Hamiltonian and spin polarizabilities

Going to the third order, basic Electrodynamics can no longer be a good guidance. A good guidance rst came in S. Ragusas paper [3], where 4 spin polarizabilites are used to parametrize the polarization from the nucleon spin under external EM eld. However, I will argue in this paper that expansion of Hamiltonian to the third order of photon energy and the requirement that the Hamiltonian must respect basic symmetries of charge conjugation (C), parity (P) and time reversal (T) will require the same number of parameters (could be named spin polarizabilities). Table 1 lists the behavior of physical quantities under C, P and T. Quantity E B i t C + + + P + + + T + + -

Table 1. Behavior of quantities under C, P and T. E is the electric eld, B the magnetic eld, the nucleon spin, i the spatial derivative and t the time derivative. To construct the third order Hamiltonian without breaking C, P and T, only 4 scalars can be 1 used: (E E ), (B B ), i Eij Bj and i Bij Ej . Eij = 1 2 (i Ej + j Ei ), Bij = 2 (i Bj + j Bi ) and summation over repeated index is used. With these scalars, the third order Hamiltonian can be parametrized as the following [2]. H (3) = 2 [E1 E1 (E E ) + M1 M1 (B B ) 2M1 E2 i Eij Bj + 2E1 M2 i Bij Ej ] (4)

The s are the spin polarizabilities, and can be combined to a conventional form as the following. E1 E1 = 1 3 M1 M1 = 4 M1 E2 = 2 + 4 E1 M2 = 3 2 (5)

3
3.1

Observables
Amplitude of scattering from parametrized Hamiltonian

A straightforward way to calculate scattering amplitude is to use the Hamiltonian in section 2 in the Lippmann-Schwinger equation as the following. Mf i = f |H |i
l =i

f |H |l l|H |i El Ei

(6)

| i =| , k | Ni is the initial state including a photon | , k with polarization and wave vector k, and a nucleon in the state | Ni . | f =| , k | Nf is the nal state The vector potential needs to be quantized to give results for the amplitude Mf i : A(r ) =
,k

2 eikr ] [a eikr + a ,k ,k V ,k ,k

(7)

The operator a,k and a

,k

are the annihilation and creation operator, respectively, for a photon

with polarization and wave vector k. The electric and magnetic eld are also quantized using their relations to the vector potential in the following equations. A t B =A E=

(8)

Up to a constant coecient, the amplitude is evaluated to the second order of photon energy using the equations above as follows. Amp = Z 2 e2 ) ( k ) 4M + 4E + ( k M (9)

Expression including the third order can be similarly evaluated, and with lower order terms put in a more conventional form in the Breit frame [1, 4].
6

T (, z ) =
i=1

Ai (, z )ti

(10)

t1 = )( k ) t2 = ( k t3 = ( ) k )( ) t4 = (k )( k ) ( k )( k )] t5 = [( k )( k ) ( k )( k )] t6 = [( k (11)

A1 (, z ) = A2 (, z ) = A3 (, z ) = A4 (, z ) = A5 (, z ) = A6 (, z ) =
0

e2 2 Z 2 e2 2 2 2 + 3 ((Z + ) (1 + z ) Z )(1 z ) + 4 (E 1 + zM 1 ) MN 4MN e2 2 2 3 (2Z + )z 4 M 1 4MN e2 0 3 (Z (Z + 2) (Z + )2 z ) + A 3 + 4 (1 (2 + 24 )z ) 2 2MN e2 2 3 2 (Z + ) + 4 2 2MN e2 0 3 (Z + )2 + A 5 + 4 4 2 2MN e2 0 3 Z (Z + ) + A 6 + 4 3 2 2MN

0

(12)

0 0 The terms A 3 , A5 , A6 are contributions from pole. The details of pole is discussed in [1, 2, 5]. Z is the number of unit charge e of the nucleon, is the anomalous magnetic moment of the nucleon, MN is the mass of the nucleon, is the photon energy (in Breit frame, the energy of the photon before and after scattering is the same), z is cosine of the scattering angle .

3.2

Dierential cross section

With the general expression of scattering amplitude, it is straightforward to calculate the dierential cross section (DCS) with dierent photon helicity and nucleon polarization. The combinations of DCS with photon helicity and nucleon polarization in certain congurations together with unpolarized DCS lead to useful observables in experiments [6]. dunpol 2 MN / dcm MN + 2 1 2 1 A1 (1 + z 2 ) + A2 (3 z 2 ) 2 2 3 + 2 (1 z 2 )[4A3 A6 + (A3 A4 + 2A3 A5 A1 A2 )] 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 + 4 (1 z 2 )[ A2 2 (1 z ) + A4 (1 + z ) + A5 (1 + 2z )] 2 2 2 + 4 (1 z 2 )[3A2 6 + 2A6 (A4 + 3A5 )z + 2A4 A5 z ] =

(13)

The 2 dierences between DCS for dierent photon helicities and target polarizations can be dened below. || = = d d dcm dcm d d dcm dcm (14) (15)

The nucleon spin is parallel or antiparallel to the photon direction in || , and in positive or negative x-direction with photon moving in z-direction in . These 2 are also calculated as follows [6]. 4

|| 2 2 MN /(MN

+ 2 )

2 2 = A2 3 (1 z ) A1 A3 (1 + z )

2 (1 z 2 )[A6 (A1 + 3A3 ) + (3A3 A5 A1 A5 + A3 A4 A2 A3 )z ]

2 2 4 (1 z 2 )[A5 (A2 A4 )(1 z 2 ) + 4A5 A6 z + 2A2 6 + 2A5 z ]

(16)

2 2 MN /(MN

+ 2 )

= A3 (A3 A1 )zsincos + 2 (A1 A5 + A2 A3 )(1 z 2 )sincos + 2 [A3 A4 (1 + z 2 ) + A3 A5 (3z 2 1) + 2A3 A6 z ]sincos + 4 (1 z 2 )[A6 (A2 + A4 2A5 ) + A5 (A2 A4 2A5 )z ]sincos(17)

3.3

Asymmetry

Asymmetries are dened as follows. A|| = A = || dunpol 2 dcm dunpol 2 dcm (18) (19)

The following Figure shows how the curve of A with respect to photon energy depends of the value of spin polarizability 1 [8] (consistent with [7]).

Fig. 1 A of neutron with respect to photon energy, dependence on dierent values of spin polarizability 1 . Asymmetries can be measured experimentally, from measured DCS with dierent photon helicity and target polarization, to determine the values of spin polarizabilities based on the dependence shown above or in other forms. 5

4
4.1

Experimental extraction of polarizabilities

Extraction of electromagnetic polarizabilities of proton

One of the rst experiments for the proton electromagnetic polarizabilities was carried out in UIUC [9]. The DCS is expressed in the following equation. d d pt E EE p + p p p = r0 ( )2 ( ) (1 + cos )2 + (1 cos )2 2 d d E ( hc) 2 2
dpt d

(20)

is the known DCS of a structureless proton with anomalous magnetic moment [10]. This is consistent with the DCS shown in Section 3 in the unpolarized case up to the second order of photon energy. This experiment measured backward scattered photons ( = ) only, thus another combination of and is needed. This combination is from Baldins sum rule of previous data [9, 11] as shown in the following equation. 1 p + p = 2 2

tot ( ) d = 14.2 104 f m3 2 2

(21)

The result shown in [9] is the following. p = (10.9 2.2(stat) 1.3(sys)) 104 f m3 p = (3.3 2.2(stat) 1.3(sys)) 104 f m3 (22)

There are other experiments using dierent techniques but use Baldins sum rule as above [12], which will not be discussed in details here. The TAPS experiment carried out at MAMI (Mainz) has the precision of all the experiments before it combined together [14], without using Baldins sum rule [13]. The values of electromagnetic polarizabilities from this experiment are listed in the following equations. p = (11.9 0.5(stat) 1.3(sys)) 104 f m3 p = (1.2 0.7(stat) 1.3(sys)) 104 f m3 (23)

Combining experimental results together, the recommended value for today is given by the PDG [15] as follows. p = (12.0 0.6) 104 f m3 p = (1.9 0.5) 104 f m3 (24)

4.2

Extraction of spin polarizabilities of proton

(p)

The rst experimental extraction of spin polarizability gives = 1 + 2 + 24 = (27.1 .8 4 3 2.2(stat + syst)+2 2.4 (model)) 10 f m [16]. The subscript means backward scattering. In comparison, forward scattering is denoted by subscript 0. 6

The recommended experimental result for = 1 + 2 + 24 and 0 given in [17] as follows.

(p) = (36.4 1.5) 104 f m4

(p)

(p)

= 1 2 24 are

(p)

= (0.58 0.2) 104 f m4

(25)

4.3

Extraction of electromagnetic polarizabilities of neutron

Experimentalists face two major diculties in Compton scattering of neutron to extract its polarizabilities. Firstly, as free neutrons decay, there is no free neutron targets like the proton case. Secondly, because neutron is neutral (Z = 0), the lowest order terms in the scattering amplitude or DCS with factors of Z becomes 0. The lacking of these terms results in much smaller cross section in comparison with the proton case. There have been three kinds of experiments that solved these diculties to certain extents, and measured the electromagnetic polarizabilities of neutrons. The rst kind is to scatter neutron beams from Pb target (Coulomb eld of high Z material). The experiment carried out in Oak Ridge gives n = (12.6 1.5(stat) 2.0(sys)) 104 f m3 [18]. However, there has been criticism about the precision of the experiment [19], and suggested the result should be quoted as 7 n 19 in units of 104 f m3 . The second kind is the quasi-free Compton scattering from deutron + d + p + n. One .0 4 3 experiment of this kind [20] gives n n = (9.8 3.6(stat)+2 1.1 (syst) 2.2(sys)) 10 f m . 4 3 Combined with Baldins sum rule from photo-absorption data [21] n +n = (15.20.5)10 f m , the following result was published in [20].
.1 4 3 n = (12.5 1.8(stat)+1 0.6 (syst) 1.1(sys)) 10 f m .6 4 3 n = (2.7 1.8(stat)+0 1.1 (syst) 1.1(sys)) 10 f m

(26)

The third kind is the elastic Compton scattering from deutron. One experiment of this kind [22] (MAX-Lab, Lund) gave results in the following. According to two comments, a re-calculation may be necessary [23, 24]. n = (8.8 2.4(total) 3.0(model)) 104 f m3 n = (6.5 2.4(total) 3.0(model)) 104 f m3 (27) Recommended result weighted average over quasi-free Compton scattering from deutron and electromagnetic scattering from Pb is the following [14]. n = (12.5 1.7) 104 f m3 n = (2.7 1.8) 104 f m3 (28)

4.4

Extraction of spin polarizabilities of neutron

(n)

The neutron spin polarizability is extracted from the quasi-free Compton scattering from (n) deutron [14] = (58.6 4.0) 104 f m4 . No more experiments carried out are known to the 7

author. A polarized Compton scattering in HI S is proposed by the group of Prof. Haiyan Gao where the author is working in. This experiment is discussed in the next chapter.

5
5.1

Proposed experiment [26] for spin polarizabilities of neutron

Theory for polarized Compton scattering on 3 He

In [2, 25, 27], D. Shukla (D. Choudhury changed name after marrige) and colleagues calculated asymmetries as discussed in Section 3.3, but for 3 He with dependence on the spin polarizabilities of neutrons. This is much more complicated than the single nucleon cases due to the fact that three nucleons are bounded inside 3 He, and photons can scatter from one nucleon or two nucleons together inside (one and two body matrix element). The calculated asymmetry can be compared with experimental data directly (Fig. 2 for asymmetry in z).

Fig. 2 Calculated asymmetry in z with respect to scattering angle in lab. Dierent curves correspond to dierent values of 1 . Asymmetry in x has also been calculated in [2, 25, 27].

5.2

Experimental target: 3 He cell

A typical target cell shown below.

Fig. 3 Cell Linda after construction at W & M, picture from http://pol3he daq.physics.wm.edu/pol3he/Target-cells/Linda.php 8

The sphere at the top is the pumping chamber, the tube at the bottom is the target chamber. In experiment, the pumping chamber is put in an oven heated up to 200 C in a 20 Gauss magnetic eld. At this temperature, the Rb in the cell is vaporized to absorb the circularly polarized laser and gain angular momentum in the magnetic eld direction. Through collisions between Rb and 3 He, the angular momentum is transferred to 3 He spin. The proportion of 3 He with spin aligned in a certain direction in our lab is around 50%. We use Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and Eletron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) to measure precisely the polarization of the 3 He in the cell.

5.3

High Intensity Gamma Ray beam

The required high intensity gamma ray beam is from Duke Free Electron Laser Lab (DFELL). The proposed enenergy is 120 MeV, and proposed intensity 5 107 /s. Besides this experiment, other experiments utilizing the gamma beam from DFELL were carried out [28].

5.4

Detector

In experiment the HI s NaI Detector Array (HINDA) system is used to detect scattered photon. There are 8 detectors in total and a half-view of one is shown below.

Fig. 4 Half view of one detector of the HINDA system The HINDA system is constructed and used by Prof. Henry Wellers group in TUNL, Duke. This system has been used for various experiments in DFELL in the past.

5.5

Challenge of experiment

The major challenge of this experiment comes from the small Total Cross Section (TCS) of elastic Compton scattering T CS 300nb at 100M eV (current DFELL upper limit). With the current intensity ( 5 106 /s) and experimental conguration, there will be very limited count rate < 0.5event/hr . It will require a large number of beam time to reach desired statistics considering the count rate alone. The beam related background (photon scattering from air, etc) are suppressed by techniques developed in TUNL experiments. However, the cosmic background count rate after all current 9

rejection mechanism, will be at least 6 times the count rate of the Compton signal, due to the smallness of the signal.

Summary

In this essay, the Hamiltonian of EM eld and nucleon is reviewed and also developed/calculated by myself. Observables were calculated, and consistency with existed calculation was reached by my own calculation. Then the experiments for polarizabilities of protons and neutrons in history were reviewed. The proposed experiment is discussed. The conclusion for the proposed experiment is that it is very dicult with the current beam, target and cosmic background rejection methods. And we need to develop new experimental techniques and apparatus to make it possible.

References
[1] H.W. Grie hammer et al. Progress in Particle and Nuclear Physics 67 (2012) 841-897 [2] D. Shukla et al. Nuclear Physics A 819 (2009) 98-134 [3] S. Ragusa. Physical Review D 47 (1993) 3757 [4] J.A. McGovern, Phys. Rev. C 63 (2001) 064608 [5] T.R. Hemmert et al. Physical Review D 57 (1998) 5746 [6] V. Bernard et al. Int. J. Mod. Phys. E 4 (1995) 193. [7] J.A. McGovern, Private Communication. [8] My own calculation [9] F.J. Federspiel et al. Physical Review Letters 67 (1991) 1511 [10] J.L. Powell, Phys. Rev. 75 (1949) 32 [11] A.I. Lvov et al. Sov. J. Nucl. Phys. 29 (1979) 651 [12] Zieger et al. Phys. Lett. B 278 (1992) 34 [13] V. Olmos de Le on et al. Eur. Phys. J. A 10 (2001) 207 [14] M. Schumacher, Prog. Part. Nucl. Phys. 55 (2005) 567 [15] J. Beringer et al. (Particle Data Group), Phys. Rev. D86, 010001 (2012) [16] Tonnison et al. Physical Review Letters 80 (1998) 4382 [17] M. Schumacher. arXiv: 1301.1567v1 (2012) [18] J. Schmiedmayer et al. Physical Review Letters 66 (1991) 1015 [19] F. Wissmann et al. Eur. Phys. J. A. 1 (1998) 193 10

[20] K. Kossert et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 88 (2002) 162301; Eur. Phys. J. A 16 (2003) 259 [21] M.I. Levchuk et al. Nucl. Phys. A 674 (2000) 449; A 684 (2001) 490 [22] M. Lundin et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 90 (2003) 192501-1 [23] R.P. Hildebrandt et al. e-Print Archive: nucl-th/0405077 [24] S.R. Beane et al. e-Print Archive: nucl-th/0403088 [25] D. Choudhury et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 98 (2007) 232303 [26] H. Gao et al. http://www.tunl.duke.edu/mep/higs/compton.pdf [27] D. Choudhury, Ph. D. thesis, Ohio University, 2006 [28] http://www.tunl.duke.edu/mep/index.php?page=experiments

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