# The Charge Form Factor of the Neutron from ²H⃗(𝑒⃗, 𝑒' 𝑛)𝑝

## 1 Motivation

The charge distribution of the neutron is described by the charge form factor $`G_E^n`$, which is related to the Fourier transform of the distribution and is generally expressed as a function of $`Q^2`$, the square of the four-momentum transfer. Data on $`G_E^n`$ are important for our understanding of the nucleon and are essential for the interpretation of electromagnetic multipoles of nuclei, e.g. the deuteron.

Since a practical target of free neutrons is not available, experimentalists mostly resorted to (quasi)elastic scattering of electrons from unpolarized deuterium to determine this form factor. The shape of $`G_E^n`$ as function of $`Q^2`$ is relatively well known from high precision elastic electron-deuteron scattering, but the absolute scale still contains a systematic uncertainty of about 50%. The slope of $`G_E^n`$ at $`Q^2=0`$ (GeV/c)<sup>2</sup> is known from measurements where thermal neutrons are scattered from atomic electrons .

The systematic uncertainties can be significantly reduced through the measurement of electronuclear spin observables. The scattering cross section with both longitudinal polarized electrons and a polarized target for the $`{}_{}{}^{2}\stackrel{}{\mathrm{H}}(\stackrel{}{e},e^{}N)`$ reaction, can be written as 

$$S=S_0\left\{1+P_1^dA_d^V+P_2^dA_d^T+h(A_e+P_1^dA_{ed}^V+P_2^dA_{ed}^T)\right\},$$
(1)   
where $`S_0`$ is the unpolarized cross section, $`h`$ the polarization of the electrons, and $`P_1^d`$ ($`P_2^d`$) the vector (tensor) polarization of the target. The target analyzing powers and spin-correlation parameters ($`A_i`$), depend on the orientation of the nuclear spin. The polarization direction of the deuteron is defined by the angles $`\mathrm{\Theta }_d`$ and $`\mathrm{\Phi }_d`$ in the frame where the $`z`$-axis is along the direction of the three-momentum transfer ($`𝐪`$) and the $`y`$-axis is defined by the vector product of the incoming and outgoing electron momenta. The observable $`A_{ed}^V(\mathrm{\Theta }_d=90^{},\mathrm{\Phi }_d=0^{})`$ contains an interference term, where the effect of the small charge form factor is amplified by the dominant magnetic form factor (see e.g. Refs. ). In the present paper we describe a measurement performed at NIKHEF (Amsterdam), which uses a stored polarized electron beam and a vector-polarized deuterium target, to determine $`G_E^n`$ via a measurement of $`A_{ed}^V(90^{},0^{})`$.

## 2 Experimental setup

The experiment was performed with a polarized gas target internal to the AmPS electron storage ring. An atomic beam source (ABS) was used to inject a flux of $`4.6\times 10^{16}`$ deuterium atoms/s into a cooled storage cell.

Polarized electrons were produced by photo-emission from a strained-layer semiconductor cathode (InGaAsP). After linear acceleration to 720 MeV the electrons were injected and stacked in the AmPS storage ring. Every 5 minutes the ring was refilled, after reversal of the electron polarization at the source. The polarization of the stored electrons was maintained by setting the spin tune to 0.5 with a strong solenoidal field (using the Siberian snake principle).

Scattered electrons were detected in the large-acceptance magnetic spectrometer . The electron detector was positioned at a central angle of 40, resulting in a central value of $`Q^2=0.21`$(GeV/c)<sup>2</sup>. Neutrons and protons were detected in a time-of-flight (TOF) system made of two subsequent and identical scintillator arrays. Each of the four bars in an array was preceded by two plastic scintillators used to identify and/or veto charged particles. By simultaneously detecting protons and neutrons in the same detector, one can construct asymmetry ratios for the two reaction channels $`{}_{}{}^{2}\stackrel{}{\mathrm{H}}(\stackrel{}{e},e^{}p)n`$ and $`{}_{}{}^{2}\stackrel{}{\mathrm{H}}(\stackrel{}{e},e^{}n)p`$, in this way minimizing systematic uncertainties associated with the deuteron ground-state wave function, absolute beam and target polarizations, and possible dilution by cell-wall background events.

## 3 Results

An experimental asymmetry ($`A_{exp}=\frac{N_+N_{}}{N_++N_{}}`$) can be constructed, where $`N_\pm `$ is the number of events that pass the selection criteria, with $`hP_1^d`$ either positive or negative. $`A_{exp}`$ for the $`{}_{}{}^{2}\stackrel{}{\mathrm{H}}(\stackrel{}{e},e^{}p)n`$-channel, integrated up to a missing momentum of 200 MeV/$`c`$, was used to determine the effective product of beam and target polarization by comparing to the predictions of the model of Arenhövel *et al.* . This advanced, non-relativistic model has shown to provide good descriptions for quasifree proton knockout from tensor-polarized deuterium. Finite acceptance effects were taken into account with a Monte Carlo code.

The spin-correlation parameter for the neutron events was obtained from the experimental asymmetry by correcting for the contribution of protons misidentified as neutrons (less than 1%, as determined from a calibration with the reaction <sup>1</sup>H($`e,e^{}p`$)), and for the product of beam and target polarization, as determined from the $`{}_{}{}^{2}\stackrel{}{\mathrm{H}}(\stackrel{}{e},e^{}p)n`$ channel.

Figure 2 shows the spin-correlation parameter for the $`{}_{}{}^{2}\stackrel{}{\mathrm{H}}(\stackrel{}{e},e^{}n)p`$ channel as a function of missing momentum. The data are compared to the predictions of the full model of Arenhövel *et al.*, assuming the dipole parameterization for the magnetic form factor of the neutron, folded over the detector acceptance with our Monte Carlo code for various values of $`G_E^n`$. Full model calculations are required for a reliable extraction of $`G_E^n`$. We extract $`G_E^n(Q^2=0.21(\mathrm{GeV}/c)^2)=0.066\pm 0.015\pm 0.004`$, where the first (second) error indicates the statistical (systematic) uncertainty.

In Fig. 2 we compare our experimental result to other data obtained with spin-dependent electron scattering. The figure also shows the results from Ref. . It is seen that our result favors their extraction of $`G_E^n`$ which uses the Nijmegen potential.

## 4 Conclusions

In summary, we presented the first measurement of the sideways spin-correlation parameter $`A_{ed}^V(90^{},0^{})`$ in quasifree electron-deuteron scattering from which we extract the neutron charge form factor at $`Q^2=0.21`$ (GeV/$`c`$)<sup>2</sup>. When combined with the known value and slope  at $`Q^2=0`$ (GeV/$`c`$)<sup>2</sup> and the elastic electron-deuteron scattering data from Ref. , this result puts strong constraints on $`G_E^n`$ up to $`Q^2=0.7`$ (GeV/$`c`$)<sup>2</sup>.

We would like to thank the NIKHEF and Vrije Universiteit technical groups for their outstanding support and Prof. H. Arenhövel for providing the calculations. This work was supported in part by the Stichting voor Fundamenteel Onderzoek der Materie (FOM), which is financially supported by the Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO), the National Science Foundation under Grants No. PHY-9504847 (Arizona State Univ.), US Department of Energy under Grant No. DE-FG02-97ER41025 (Univ. of Virginia) and the Swiss National Foundation.