QCD form factors and hadron helicity nonconservation

Abstract

Recent data for the ratio $R(Q)= QF_{2}(Q^{2})/F_{1}(Q^{2})$ shocked the community by disobeying expectations held for 50 years. We examine the status of perturbative QCD predictions for helicity-flip form factors. Contrary to common belief, we find there is no rule of hadron helicity conservation for form factors. Instead the analysis yields an inequality that the leading power of helicity-flip processes may equal or exceed the power of helicity conserving processes. Numerical calculations support the rule, and extend the result to the regime of laboratory momentum transfer $Q^{2}$. Quark orbital angular momentum, an important feature of the helicity flip processes, may play a role in all form factors at large $Q^{2}$, depending on the quark wave functions.