Proton Form Factors from Elastic Electron-Proton Scattering

Abstract

Absolute measurements of the elastic electron-proton cross section have been made with a precision of about 4% for values of the square of the four-momentum transfer, ${q}^{2}$, in the range 6.0 to 30.0 ${\mathrm{F}}^{\ensuremath{-}2}$ and for electron scattering angles in the range 45\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{} to 145\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}. To within the experimental errors, it is found that the charge and magnetic form factors of the proton have a common dependence on ${q}^{2}$ when normalized to unity at ${q}^{2}=0$, and that an accurate representation of the behavior of the form factor and that of the cross sections themselves can be given in terms of a three-pole approximation to the dispersion theory of nucleon form factors.