Time-like proton form factor measurement with P̄ANDA

Abstract

The electromagnetic probe is an excellent tool to investigate the structure of the nucleon. The nearly 4π detector PANDA, will allow to make a precise determination of the electromagnetic form factors of the proton in the time-like region with unprecedented precision. In the one-photon exchange approximation, the center of mass unpolarized differential cross section of the reaction p̄p → e+e− is a linear combination of the squared moduli of the electric GE and magnetic GM proton form factors. The precise measurement of the angular distribution over almost full angular range then directly gives these quantities. At present only two experiments have provided the ratio R = |GE|/|GM| but with large statistical uncertainties. It is shown that with strict PID cuts and a kinematic fit, the dominant background, p̄p → π+π−, can be supressed to much less than 1% of the signal, without affecting the extraction of the ratio R. P̄ANDA will therefore offer a unique opportunity to measure the ratio with a precision ranging from <1% at low q2 up to 30% for q2 = 14 (GeV/c)2.