Transverse charge and magnetization densities in the nucleon's chiral periphery

Abstract

In the light-front description of nucleon structure the electromagnetic form factors are expressed in terms of frame-independent transverse densities of charge and magnetization. Recent work has studied the transverse densities at peripheral distances b = O(M_pi^{-1}), where they are governed by universal chiral dynamics and can be computed in a model-independent manner. Of particular interest is the comparison of the peripheral charge and magnetization densities. We summarize (a) their interpretation as spin-independent and -dependent current matrix elements; (b) the leading-order chiral effective field theory results; (c) their mechanical interpretation in the light-front formulation; (d) the large-N_c limit of QCD and the role of Delta intermediate states; (e) the connection with generalized parton distributions and peripheral high-energy scattering processes.