How well do we know the electromagnetic form factors of the proton?

Abstract

Recent measurements of recoil polarization in elastic scattering have been used to extract the ratio of the electric to the magnetic proton form factors. These results disagree with Rosenbluth extractions from cross section measurements, indicating either an inconsistency between the two techniques, or a problem with either the polarization transfer or cross section measurements. To obtain precise knowledge of the proton form factors, we must first understand the source of this discrepancy.