Baryon Electromagnetic Form Factors at BESIII

Abstract

The electromagnetic form factors are fundamental observables that parametrise the electric and magnetic structure of hadrons and provide a key to the strong interaction. The Beijing Spectrometer (BESIII) is located at the Beijng Electron Positron Collider (BEPCII), a symmetric $e^+e^-$ collider running at center-of-mass energies between 2.0 and 4.6 GeV. This wide energy range allows the measurement of electromagnetic form factors both from direct $e^+e^-$ annihilation and from initial-state radiation processes. Based on $157~\mathrm{pb}^{-1}$ of data collected at center-of-mass energies between 2.23 and 3.67 GeV, BESIII published results on the channel $e^+e^-\rightarrow p\bar{p}$. More recently, preliminary results from the analysis of the initial-state radiation process $e^+e^- \rightarrow p\bar{p}\gamma$ based on 7.41 $\mathrm{fb}^{-1}$ of data have also been released. Besides nucleons, all hyperons in the SU(3) spin 1/2 octet and spin 3/2 decuplet are energetically accessible at BESIII. Preliminary results from the $e^+e^-\rightarrow \Lambda\bar{\Lambda}$ channel and the $e^+e^- \rightarrow \Lambda_c \bar{\Lambda}_c$ channel from the charmed sector are already available. Furthermore, a world-leading data sample for precision measurements of baryon form factors was collected in 2015. This data will enable the measurement of baryon electromagnetic form factors with unprecedented accuracy.