Pressure Distribution and Shear Forces inside the Proton

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Pressure Distribution and Shear Forces inside the Proton

P. E. Shanahan and W. Detmold

Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 072003 – Published 22 February 2019

Abstract

The distributions of pressure and shear forces inside the proton are investigated using lattice quantum chromodynamics (LQCD) calculations of the energy momentum tensor, allowing the first model-independent determination of these fundamental aspects of proton structure. This is achieved by combining recent LQCD results for the gluon contributions to the energy momentum tensor with earlier calculations of the quark contributions. The utility of LQCD calculations in exploring, and supplementing, the assumptions in a recent extraction of the pressure distribution in the proton from deeply virtual Compton scattering is also discussed. Based on this study, the target kinematics for experiments aiming to determine the pressure and shear distributions with greater precision at Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility and a future electron ion collider are investigated.

Received 21 October 2018
Revised 28 December 2018
Corrected 7 May 2021

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.072003

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Lattice QCD Quantum chromodynamics Strong interaction

Protons

Particles & Fields

Corrections

7 May 2021

Correction: The previously published Figs. 2, 3, and 4 contained errors in the units given on the vertical axes and have been replaced.

Authors & Affiliations

P. E. Shanahan^1,2 and W. Detmold¹

¹Center for Theoretical Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
²Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 2Y5, Canada