An examination of proton charge radius extractions from e-p scattering data

Abstract

A detailed examination of issues associated with proton radius extractions from elastic electron-proton scattering experiments is presented. Sources of systematic uncertainty and model dependence in the extractions are discussed, with an emphasis on how these may impact the proton charge and magnetic radii. A comparison of recent Mainz data to previous world data is presented, highlighting the difference in treatment of systematic uncertainties as well as tension between different data sets. We find several issues that suggest that larger uncertainties than previously quoted may be appropriate, but do not find any corrections which would resolve the proton radius puzzle.