Search

Understanding the strong interaction dynamics that govern the emergence of hadron mass (EHM) represents a challenging open problem in the Standard Model. In this paper we describe new opportunities for gaining insight into EHM from results on nucleon resonance ($N^\ast$) electroexcitation amplitudes (i.e. $\gamma_vpN^\ast$ electrocouplings) in the mass range up to 1.8\,GeV for virtual photon four-momentum squared (i.e. photon virtualities $Q^2$) up to 7.5\,GeV$^2$ available from exclusive meson electroproduction data acquired during the 6-GeV era of experiments at Jefferson Laboratory (JLab). These results, combined with achievements in the use of continuum Schwinger function methods (CSMs), offer new opportunities for charting the momentum dependence of the dressed quark mass from results on the $Q^2$-evolution of the $\gamma_vpN^\ast$ electrocouplings. A successful description of the $\Delta(1232)3/2^+$ and $N(1440)1/2^+$ electrocouplings has been achieved using CSMs with, in both cases, common momentum-dependent mass functions for the dressed quarks, for the gluons, and the same momentum-dependent strong coupling. Parameter-free CSM predictions for the electrocouplings of the $\Delta(1600)3/2^+$ became available in 2019. The experimental results obtained in the first half of 2022 have confirmed the CSM predictions. We also discuss prospects for these studies during the 12-GeV era at JLab using the CLAS12 detector, with experiments that are currently in progress, and canvass the physics motivation for continued studies in this area with a possible increase of the JLab electron beam energy up to 22\,GeV., Comment: 23 pages, 11 figures, 2 tables

Understanding the origin and dynamics of hadron structure and in turn that of atomic nuclei is a central goal of nuclear physics. This challenge entails the questions of how does the roughly 1 GeV mass-scale that characterizes atomic nuclei appear; why does it have the observed value; and, enigmatically, why are the composite Nambu-Goldstone (NG) bosons in quantum chromodynamics (QCD) abnormally light in comparison? In this perspective, we provide an analysis of the mass budget of the pion and proton in QCD; discuss the special role of the kaon, which lies near the boundary between dominance of strong and Higgs mass-generation mechanisms; and explain the need for a coherent effort in QCD phenomenology and continuum calculations, in exa-scale computing as provided by lattice QCD, and in experiments to make progress in understanding the origins of hadron masses and the distribution of that mass within them. We compare the unique capabilities foreseen at the electron-ion collider (EIC) with those at the hadron-electron ring accelerator (HERA), the only previous electron-proton collider; and describe five key experimental measurements, enabled by the EIC and aimed at delivering fundamental insights that will generate concrete answers to the questions of how mass and structure arise in the pion and kaon, the Standard Model's NG modes, whose surprisingly low mass is critical to the evolution of our Universe., Comment: 16 pages, 12 figures, to appear in the European Physical Journal A - "Hadrons and Nuclei"

The first challenge faced in investigating the strong interaction from partially explored, where meson-cloud degrees of freedom dominate, to still unexplored distance scales, where the dressed-quark contributions are the dominating degrees of freedom, is to find an experiment that allows to measure observables that are probing this evolving nonperturbative QCD regime over the full range. Baryon spectroscopy can establish more sensitively, and in an almost model-independent way, nucleon excitation and non-resonant reaction amplitudes by complete measurements of pseudo-scalar meson photoproduction off nucleons. Elastic and transition form factors can then trace this evolution by measurements of elastic electron scattering and exclusive single-meson and double-pion electroproduction cross sections off the nucleon that will be extended to higher momentum transfers with the energy-upgraded CEBAF beam at JLab to study the dressed quark degrees of freedom, where their strong interaction is responsible for the ground and excited nucleon state formations. After establishing unprecedented high-precision data, the immanent next challenge is a high-quality analysis to extract these relevant electrocoupling parameters for various resonances that then can be compared to state of the art models and QCD-based calculations. Recent results demonstrate the status of the analysis and pinpoint further challenges, including those to establish QCD-based results directly from the experimental data., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, NSTAR2011 conference