Femto-Photography of Protons to Nuclei with Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering

Abstract

Developments in deeply virtual Compton scattering allow the direct measurements of scattering amplitudes for exchange of a highly virtual photon with fine spatial resolution. Real-space images of the target can be obtained from this information. Spatial resolution is determined by the momentum transfer rather than the wavelength of the detected photon. Quantum photographs of the proton, nuclei, and other elementary particles with resolution on the scale of a fraction of a femtometer is feasible with existing experimental technology.

Comments: To be published in Physical Review D. Replaces previous version with minor changes in presentation