Two main findings on electromagnetic hadron form factors focussed a large interest of the hadron physics community in the recent years. One is the decrease of the electric to magnetic form factor ratio when the momentum transfer in electron proton elastic scattering increases. The second is the discovery of regular oscillations of the generalized proton form factors in the annihilation process electron-positron into proton-antiproton. In this talk we propose a coherent interpretation of these findings giving a general, dynamical description of the proton in the space-time frame which is based on the presence of a quantum vacuum at very small distances.

We present an analysis of the recent near threshold BESIII data for the nucleon time-like effective form factors. The damped oscillation emerging from the subtraction of the dipole formula is treated in non-perturbative-QCD, making use of the light cone distribution amplitudes expansion. Non-perturbative effects are accounted for by considering Q^2 -dependent coefficients in such expansions, whose free parameters are determined by fitting to the proton and neutron data. Possible implications and future analysis have been discussed.

The recent measurement of the modulus and phase of the ratio GΛE/GΛM, between the electric and the magnetic Λ form factors, performed by the BESIII experiment, offers the unique possibility of exploring for the first time ever the complex structure of this form factor ratio. The investigation is made possible by a dispersive procedure based on analyticity and a set of firstprinciple constraints, that is defined ad hoc.

Radiative corrections for elementary processes as elastic electron-proton scattering and electron-positron annihilation into proton-antiproton (and the time reverse reaction) are discussed. The knowledge of hadron characteristics as electromagnetic form factors heavily depends on the radiative corrections applied to the experimental observables and on the assumed reaction mechanism. A compared analysis of scattering and annihilation reactions, on the basis of fundamental symmetries, allows to formulate model independent statements that are a necessary guide for model calculations.

The dependence of the nucleon polarization in the reaction e^+ + e^- → N + N̅ +π^0 over different invariant variables in frame of the non-resonant mechanism, has been derived. The nucleon polarization is expressed in terms of six invariant complex amplitudes, assuming the conservation of the hadron electromagnetic currents and the P-invariance of the hadron electromagnetic interaction. An inclusive experimental setup when the proton (or the antiproton) and the pion are detected in coincidence is considered. Numerical estimations were performed for the so called normal polarization in the energy range from threshold up to s=16 GeV^2, using a specific parametrization of the nucleon electromagnetic form factors and taking into account the unpolarized differential cross section of the non-resonant mechanism, as previously calculated.

The general analysis of the reaction , in the case of longitudinally polarized electron beam, has been performed in the one-photon-nnihilation approximation, accounting for the polarization states of the final nucleon. This analysis is useful for the description of the continuum (non-resonant) and resonant (with different possible vector mesons or excited baryons in the intermediate virtual states of the Feynman diagrams) contributions. The conservation of the hadron electromagnetic currents and P-invariance of the hadron electromagnetic interaction were used to express the matrix element in terms of the six complex independent invariant amplitudes. The general structure of the hadronic tensor for the case of unpolarized final hadrons and polarized nucleon has been derived. The spin-independent part of the hadronic tensor is determined by five structure functions and the spin-dependent one by 13 structure functions. The transversal, longitudinal and normal components of the nucleon polarization four-vector are expressed by means of the four-vectors of the particle momenta. The five independent invariant variables which describe the reaction have been introduced. The limits of the changing of these variables have been considered. The kinematical double invariant variables regions are given in the figure. The kinematics, suitable to study the invariant mass distributions, is investigated.

Data on hyperon form factors recently obtained from annihilation reactions are compared each other, and to proton and neutron form factors, in terms of two kinematical variables: the transferred momentum square, $q^2$, and the modulus $P$ of the relative momentum between the outgoing baryons. They are critically discussed in terms of possible correlated structures. The present status of the time-like form factor data for baryons is described and suggestions are given on the reactions and the kinematical range where data are desirable in order to clarify the arisen questions.

Data on electromagnetic form factors of proton, neutron, and Λ from annihilation and scattering reactions are collected and interpreted in the frame of a generalized picture of the internal structure of baryons which holds in space-like and time-like regions. It is shown that these data give an insight of the space structure of the baryon for distances one hundred times smaller than the baryon size and, in the time-like region, a vision of the time evolution of the hadronic matter for times up to 10^-25 s, that is two orders of magnitude shorter than the time taken by the light to cross the volume of a proton. In the proposed interpretation, the electric form factor of the proton in the space-like region can not cross zero, but vanishes or stays very small, as an extrapolation of the data seems to show. In the time-like region specific structures appearing in the data give evidence of the dominance of the quark-diquark structure in a specific range of time of the evolution of the system.

Data on electromagnetic form factors of proton, neutron, and lambda from annihilation and scattering reactions are collected and interpreted in the frame of a generalized picture of the internal structure of baryons which holds in space-like and time-like regions. It is shown that these data give an insight into the spatial structure of the baryon for distances 100 times smaller than the baryon size and, in the time-like region, a vision of the time evolution of the hadronic matter for times up to 10(-2)5 s, that is two orders of magnitude shorter than the time taken by the light to cross the volume of a proton. In the proposed interpretation, the electric form factor of the proton in the space-like region cannot cross zero, but vanishes or stays very small, as an extrapolation of the data seems to show. In the time-like region specific structures appearing in the data give evidence of the dominance of the quark-diquark underlying dynamics in a well-determined time interval during the evolution of the system.

PANDA (anti-Proton ANnihiliation at DArmstadt) is planned to be one of the four main experiments at the future international accelerator complex FAIR (Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research) in Darmstadt, Germany. It is going to address fundamental questions of hadron physics and quantum chromodynamics using cooled antiproton beams with a high intensity and and momenta between 1.5 and 15 GeV/c. PANDA is designed to reach a maximum luminosity of 2x10^32 cm^2 s. Most of the physics programs require an excellent particle identification (PID). The PID of hadronic states at the forward endcap of the target spectrometer will be done by a fast and compact Cherenkov detector that uses the detection of internally reflected Cherenkov light (DIRC) principle. It is designed to cover the polar angle range from 5{\deg} to 22{\deg} and to provide a separation power for the separation of charged pions and kaons up to 3 standard deviations (s.d.) for particle momenta up to 4 GeV/c in order to cover the important particle phase space. This document describes the technical design and the expected performance of the novel PANDA Disc DIRC detector that has not been used in any other high energy physics experiment (HEP) before. The performance has been studied with Monte-Carlo simulations and various beam tests at DESY and CERN. The final design meets all PANDA requirements and guarantees suffcient safety margins.

The BESIII Collaboration has recently published a new precise measurement of the time-like neutron form factor(FF)[1].In the light of the remarkable accuracy and of the wideness of the explored kinematical range,these data represent an unprece-dented tool for highlighting and studying specific features of the neutron FF. Until a few years ago,the only available data were those obtained by the FENICE experiment at Frascati,in the'90s[2].Since 2014 also the SND experiment at Novosibirsk[3,4]has entered the game of measuring the e+e-→n(n),even though in a limited energy region extending only a few tens of MeV above the nn production threshold.These data,especially the ones from Frascati,give an effective neutron FF which is twice as large as the proton one,which appears quite puzzling.

The internal structure of composite particles is conveniently described in terms of form factors (FFs)—these are experimentally accessible in annihilation and scattering of elementary reactions, and are theoretically calculable by all models that describe the properties of particles. FFs depend only on one kinematical variable, q2. This is the four-momentum transferred by the virtual photon that carries the interaction. Important developments in accelerator and detector techniques have brought impressive advances, both by extending the kinematical region and by reaching a higher precision. A critical review on the underlying methods and findings in polarized and unpolarized experiments is presented. The unique role played by polarization in determining the ratio of electric to magnetic form factors in the space-like region, and the extraction of individual form factors in the whole kinematical region, are described. Recent results at electron accelerators and electron–positron colliders confirm the existence of periodical structure in the annihilation cross section. We suggest a global framework which describes the dynamical structure of charge distribution in baryons, in order to build a coherent view of the creation and annihilation of baryonic matter.

The differential cross section and polarization observables for the elastic reaction induced by deuteron scattering off electrons at rest, d + e(-) -> d + e(-) are calculated in the one-photon-exchange approximation. The following polarization observables were calculated: 1- the analyzing powers (asymmetries) due to the tensor polarization of the deuteron beam, 2 - the spin correlation coefficients caused by the arbitrarily polarized electron target and the vector polarized deuteron beam, 3 - the coefficients of the polarization transfer from the arbitrarily polarized target electron to the recoil electrons. The differential cross section and polarization observables have been expressed in terms of the deuteron electromagnetic form factors: G(c) (charge monopole), G(M) (magnetic dipole) and G(Q) (charge quadrupole). Numerical estimations are given for the analyzing powers (asymmetries) due to the tensor polarization of the deuteron beam. They are calculated as functions of the deuteron beam energy for some values of the scattering angle (the angle between the deuteron beam and the recoil electron momenta). For the numerical calculation we use the existing phenomenological parametrization of the deuteron electromagnetic form factors. It turns out that the analyzing powers (asymmetries) are increasing with the growth of the deuteron beam energy and they have appreciable sensitivity to the value of the scattering angle. The specific interest of this reaction is to investigate the possibility to use this reaction for the measurement of the polarization of the high energy deuteron beams.

The study of baryon excitation spectra provides insight into the inner structure of baryons. So far, most of the world-wide efforts have been directed towards N^* and spectroscopy. Nevertheless, the study of the double and triple strange baryon spectrum provides independent information to the N^* and spectra. The future antiproton experiment P ANDA will provide direct access to final states containing a pair, for which production cross sections up to μ b are expected in p̅ p reactions. With a luminosity of L=10^31 cm ^-2 s ^-1 in the first phase of the experiment, the expected cross sections correspond to a production rate of ∼ 10^6 events /day . With a nearly 4π detector acceptance, P ANDA will thus be a hyperon factory. In this study, reactions of the type p̅ p → ^+ ^*- as well as p̅ p → ^*+ ^- with various decay modes are investigated. For the exclusive reconstruction of the signal events a full decay tree fit is used, resulting in reconstruction efficiencies between 3 and 5

This paper reports on Monte Carlo simulation results for future measurements of the moduli of time-like proton electromagnetic form factors, $$|G_{E}|$$ | G E | and $$|G_{M}|$$ | G M | , using the $$\bar{p} p \rightarrow \mu ^{+} \mu ^{-}$$ p ¯ p → μ + μ - reaction at $$\overline{\text {P}}\text {ANDA}$$ P ¯ ANDA (FAIR). The electromagnetic form factors are fundamental quantities parameterizing the electric and magnetic structure of hadrons. This work estimates the statistical and total accuracy with which the form factors can be measured at $$\overline{\text {P}}\text {ANDA}$$ P ¯ ANDA , using an analysis of simulated data within the PandaRoot software framework. The most crucial background channel is $$\bar{p} p \rightarrow \pi ^{+} \pi ^{-}$$ p ¯ p → π + π - , due to the very similar behavior of muons and pions in the detector. The suppression factors are evaluated for this and all other relevant background channels at different values of antiproton beam momentum. The signal/background separation is based on a multivariate analysis, using the Boosted Decision Trees method. An expected background subtraction is included in this study, based on realistic angular distributions of the background contribution. Systematic uncertainties are considered and the relative total uncertainties of the form factor measurements are presented.

The dimension of the proton, the basic building block of matter, is still object of controversy. The most precise electron-proton scattering data at low transferred momenta are re-analyzed and the extraction of the proton radius is discussed. A recent experiment from the JLAB-CLAS collaboration gives a small value for the radius (The symbol $$R_E^\alpha $$ stands for the root-mean-square charge radius of the proton $$\sqrt{\langle r_E^2\rangle }$$ , obtained by the experimental or theoretical Collaboration $$\alpha $$ .) $$R_E^\mathrm{CLAS}= (0.831\pm 0.007_\mathrm{stat}\pm 0.012_\mathrm{syst})$$  fm (Xiong et al. in Nature 575:147, 2019), in contrast with previous electron scattering experiments, in particular with the MAINZ experiment (Bernauer et al. (A1 Collaboration), Phys. Rev. C 90:015206, 2014) that concluded $$R_E^\mathrm{MAINZ}= (0.879\pm 0.005_\mathrm{stat}\pm 0.004_\mathrm{syst}\pm 0.002_\mathrm{model}\pm 0.004_\mathrm{group})$$  fm. The experimental results are re-analyzed in terms of different fits of the cross section and of its discrete derivative with analyticity constraints. The uncertainty on the derivative is two orders of magnitude larger than the error on the measured observable, i.e., the cross section. The systematic error associated with the radius is evaluated taking into account the uncertainties from different sources, as the extrapolation to the static point, the choice of the class of fitting functions, and the range of the data sample.

This paper reports on Monte Carlo simulation results for future measurements of the moduli of time-like proton electromagnetic form factors, vertical bar G(E)vertical bar and vertical bar G(M)vertical bar, using the (p) over barp -> mu(+)mu(-) reaction at PANDA (FAIR). The electromagnetic form factors are fundamental quantities parameterizing the electric and magnetic structure of hadrons. This work estimates the statistical and total accuracy with which the form factors can be measured at PANDA, using an analysis of simulated data within the PandaRoot software framework. The most crucial background channel is (p) over barp -> pi(+)pi(-), due to the very similar behavior of muons and pions in the detector. The suppression factors are evaluated for this and all other relevant background channels at different values of antiproton beam momentum. The signal/background separation is based on a multivariate analysis, using the Boosted Decision Trees method. An expected background subtraction is included in this study, based on realistic angular distributions of the background contribution. Systematic uncertainties are considered and the relative total uncertainties of the form factor measurements are presented.

Recently, the BESIII experiment renewed the interest on baryon form factors by measuring the modulus and phase of the ratio G(E)(Lambda)/G(M)(Lambda) between the electric and the magnetic Lambda form factors with unprecedented accuracy. The BESIII measurement together with older, less precise data, can be analyzed by means of a dispersive procedure based on analyticity and a set of first-principle constraints. Such a dispersive procedure shows the unique ability to determine, for the first time, the complex structure of the ratio knowing its modulus and phase measured by the BESIII Collaboration at only one energy point. Different classes of solutions arc obtained, and in all cases, the timelike and spacelike behaviors show interesting properties; spacelike zeros or unexpected large determinations for the phase. More data at different energies would be crucial to enhance the predictive power of the dispersive procedure and to unravel further remarkable features of the Lambda baryon.

The data on the proton form factors in the time-like region from the BaBar, BESIII and CMD-3 Collaborations are examined to have coherent pieces of information on the proton structure. Oscillations in the annihilation cross section, previously observed, are determined with better precision. The moduli of the individual form factors, determined for the first time, their ratio and the angular asymmetry of the annihilation reaction e+e− → p̄p are discussed. Fiits of the available data on the cross section, the effective form factor, and the form factor ratio, allow to propose a description of the electric and magnetic time-like form factors from the threshold up to the highest momenta.