Speaker
Description
The neutron is a cornerstone in our depiction of the visible universe. Despite the neutron zero-net electric charge, the asymmetric distribution of the positively- (up) and negatively-charged (down) quarks, a result of the complex quark-gluon dynamics, lead to a negative value for its squared charge radius. The precise measurement of the neutron's charge radius thus emerges as an essential part of unraveling its structure. The measurement of the neutron charge radius presents challenges, since no atomic method is possible and the electron scattering method suffers from severe limitations due to the absence of a free neutron target. Thus, it’s extraction has been based so far on the measurement of the neutron-electron scattering length, where low-energy neutrons are scattered by electrons bound in diamagnetic atoms. The results of this method exhibit tension, pointing to an underestimation of the underlying systematic uncertainties inherent to the extraction technique. Recent experimental and theoretical progress allows to extract the neutron charge radius from electron scattering experiments, thus making possible to address these discrepancies, and open up the path for a further improvement of the neutron charge radius determination. Results and prospects on the extraction of the neutron charge radius will be presented in this talk.
