Book Description
Measurements of the ratio of the elastic electron-deuteron scattering cross section to the elastic electron-proton scattering cross section were made for low momentum transfers. Augmented by the work of Topping these data span a range of (q sup 2) from 0.05 (fm sup -2) to 0.50 (fm sup -2). From these, the electric form factor of the neutron, (G sub E sub n), was extracted using three Lomon-Feshbach wave functions for the deuteron, (LF1, LF5, and LF15). Values of the slope of (G sub E sub n) versus q2 were measured to be 0.0218 plus or minus 0.0022 for LF1, 0.0220 plus or minus 0.0022 for LF5, and 0.0185 plus or minus 0.0022 for LF15. Although the data seems to prefer model LF15, all were found to be in agreement with the thermal neutron-electron slope of 0.0193 plus or minus 0.0004.