Nuclear physics in soft-wall AdS/QCD: Deuteron electromagnetic form factors

Abstract

We present a high-quality description of the deuteron electromagnetic form factors in a soft-wall AdS/QCD approach. We first propose an effective action describing the dynamics of the deuteron in the presence of an external vector field. Based on this action the deuteron electromagnetic form factors are calculated, displaying the correct 1/Q^10 power scaling for large Q^2 values. This finding is consistent with quark counting rules and the earlier observation that this result holds in confining gauge/gravity duals. The Q^2 dependence of the deuteron form factors is defined by a single and universal scale parameter kappa, which is fixed from data.