Consistency of electron scattering data with a small proton radius

Abstract
We determine the charge radius of the proton by analyzing the published low momentum transfer electron-proton scattering data from Mainz. We note that polynomial expansions of the form factor converge for momentum transfers squared below 4mπ2, where mπ is the pion mass. Expansions with enough terms to fit the data, but few enough not to overfit, yield proton radii smaller than the CODATA or Mainz values and in accord with the muonic atom results. We also comment on analyses using a wider range of data, and overall obtain a proton radius RE=0.840(16) fm.
Funding Information
  • National Science Foundation (PHY-1205905, PHY-1516509)
  • U.S. Department of Energy (DE-FG02-96ER41003)

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