Baryon moments in a QCD-based model

Abstract

We have analyzed the theory of the baryon magnetic moments in the approximate) QCD setting suggested by Brambilla et al. By modifying their derivation of the $qqq$ interaction and wave equation for baryons, we derived expressions for the baryon moments in terms of the underlying quark moments, including the first corrections associated with the binding of the quarks in baryons. The results, which hold in the ``quenched approximation'' in which the contributions of virtual quark pairs are neglected, fail to describe the measured moments, with typical errors on the order of 7%. We conclude from our analysis that the quenched approximation is at fault, and that the baryon moments give a sensitive test of that standard approximation in the lattice and analytic approaches to QCD.