The Strangeness Radius and Magnetic Moment of the Nucleon Revisited

Abstract

We update Jaffe's estimate of the strange isoscalar radius and magnetic moment of the nucleon. We make use of a recent dispersion--theoretical fit to the nucleon electromagnetic form factors and an improved description of symmetry breaking in the vector nonet. We find $\mu_s = -0.24 \pm 0.03$~n.m. and $r_s^2 = 0.21 \pm 0.03$~fm$^2$. The strange formfactor $F_2^s (t)$ follows a dipole with a cut--off mass of 1.46~GeV, $F_2^s (t)= \mu_s (1-t/2.14 \, {\rm GeV}^2 )^{-2}$. These numbers should be considered as upper limits on the strange vector current matrix--elements in the nucleon.