Generalized Sachs Form Factors and the Possibility of Their Measurement in Processes without and with Proton Spin Flip

Abstract

The differential cross section for elastic electron proton scattering has been calculated taking into account the two photon exchange within the phenomenological description of the electromagnetic electron proton interactions. The calculation is based on the consistent evaluation of the matrix elements of the proton current in a diagonal spin basis, which makes it possible to naturally obtain expressions for the generalized Sachs form factors. A new method has been proposed to independently measure these form factors in the elastic $e \vec{p} \to e \vec{p}$ process in the case where the initial proton at rest is fully polarized along the direction of the motion of the final proton.