Radiative corrections in super rosenbluth experiments

Abstract

Super Rosenbluth experiments, elastic electron-proton scattering experiments that eschew traditional electron detection and opt instead for the detection of the recoiling proton, have several experimental advantages. One claimed advantage is that radiative corrections are more favorable, i.e., smaller and with less kinematic dependence. In this paper, we explore this claim by conducting Monte Carlo simulations of both Super Rosenbluth and traditional Rosenbluth experiments with different models of radiative effects. When using a model that employs the peaking approximation, we indeed confirm the reduced kinematic dependence of the radiative corrections. However, we find that more sophisticated models that avoid the peaking approximation are unable to produce numerically stable results, due to a large enhancement to the cross section for bremsstrahlung radiation from the proton when the momentum transfer, \(Q^2\), approaches zero. Since this enhancement is not modelled in the peaking approximation, a more robust approach to radiative corrections in Super Rosenbluth experiments is needed.