High-precision measurement of the proton elastic form factor ratio μpGE/GM at low Q2

We report a new, high-precision measurement of the proton elastic form factor ratio μ p G E / G M for the four-momentum transfer squared Q 2 = 0.3 – 0.7 ( GeV / c ) 2 . The measurement was performed at Jefferson Lab (JLab) in Hall A using recoil polarimetry. With a total uncertainty of approximately 1%, the new data clearly show that the deviation of the ratio μ p G E / G M from unity observed in previous polarization measurements at high Q 2 continues down to the lowest Q 2 value of this measurement. The updated global fit that includes the new results yields an electric (magnetic) form factor roughly 2% smaller (1% larger) than the previous global fit in this Q 2 range. We obtain new extractions of the proton electric and magnetic radii, which are 〈 r E 2 〉 1 / 2 = 0.875 ± 0.010 fm and 〈 r M 2 〉 1 / 2 = 0.867 ± 0.020 fm . The charge radius is consistent with other recent extractions based on the electron–proton interaction, including the atomic hydrogen Lamb shift measurements, which suggests a missing correction in the comparison of measurements of the proton charge radius using electron probes and the recent extraction from the muonic hydrogen Lamb shift.