Lattice QCD Calculation of Electroweak Box Contributions to Superallowed Nuclear and Neutron Beta Decays.

We present the first lattice QCD calculation of the universal axial γW-box contribution □_{γW}^{VA} to both superallowed nuclear and neutron beta decays. This contribution emerges as a significant component within the theoretical uncertainties surrounding the extraction of |V_{ud}| from superallowed decays. Our calculation is conducted using two domain wall fermion ensembles at the physical pion mass.

First-Principles Calculation of Electroweak Box Diagrams from Lattice QCD.

We present the first realistic lattice QCD calculation of the γW-box diagrams relevant for beta decays. The nonperturbative low-momentum integral of the γW loop is calculated using a lattice QCD simulation, complemented by the perturbative QCD result at high momenta. Using the pion semileptonic decay as an example, we demonstrate the feasibility of the method.

Study of Two-Photon Exchange via the Beam Transverse Single Spin Asymmetry in Electron-Proton Elastic Scattering at Forward Angles over a Wide Energy Range.

We report on a new measurement of the beam transverse single spin asymmetry in electron-proton elastic scattering, A_{⊥}^{ep}, at five beam energies from 315.1 to 1508.4 MeV and at a scattering angle of 30°<θ<40°.

γW Box Inside Out: Nuclear Polarizabilities Distort the Beta Decay Spectrum.

I consider the γW-box correction to superallowed nuclear β decays in the framework of dispersion relations. I address a novel effect of a distortion of the emitted electron energy spectrum by nuclear polarizabilities and show that this effect, while neglected in the literature, is sizable. The respective correction to the β^{+} spectrum is estimated to be Δ_{R}(E)=(1.

Reduced Hadronic Uncertainty in the Determination of V_{ud}.

We analyze the universal radiative correction Δ_{R}^{V} to neutron and superallowed nuclear β decay by expressing the hadronic γW-box contribution in terms of a dispersion relation, which we identify as an integral over the first Nachtmann moment of the γW interference structure function F_{3}^{(0)}. By connecting the needed input to existing data on neutrino and antineutrino scattering, we obtain an updated value of Δ_{R}^{V}=0.02467(22), wherein the hadronic uncertainty is reduced.

First Measurement of the Q^{2} Dependence of the Beam-Normal Single Spin Asymmetry for Elastic Scattering off Carbon.

We report on the first Q^{2}-dependent measurement of the beam-normal single spin asymmetry A_{n} in the elastic scattering of 570 MeV vertically polarized electrons off ^{12}C. We cover the Q^{2} range between 0.02 and 0.

New Sum Rule for the Nuclear Magnetic Polarizability.

The well-known Levinger-Bethe photonuclear sum rule relates the strength of the photoexcitation of the giant dipole resonance in a nucleus to the number of nucleons in that nucleus. I extend this sum rule to the case of virtual photons and relate the size of the magnetic polarizability of a nucleus to the Q^{2} slope of the transverse virtual photoabsorption cross section integrated over the energy in the nuclear range. I check this sum rule for the deuteron where necessary data is available, discuss possible applications and connection with other sum rules postulated in the literature.

Light-front interpretation of proton generalized polarizabilities.

We extend the recently developed formalism to extract light-front quark charge densities from nucleon form factor data to the deformations of these quark charge densities when applying an external electric field. We show that the resulting induced polarizations can be extracted from proton generalized polarizabilities. The available data for the generalized electric polarizability of the proton yield a pronounced structure in its induced polarization at large transverse distances, which will be pinned down by forthcoming high precision virtual Compton scattering experiments.

Dispersion gammaZ-box correction to the weak charge of the proton.

We consider elastic scattering of electrons off a proton target. The parity-violating (PV) asymmetry arises at leading order in alpha due to interference of gamma and Z exchange. The radiative corrections to this leading mechanism were calculated in the literature and included in experimental analyses, except for gammaZ-box and cross-box contributions.

Low-energy theorem for virtual compton scattering and generalized sum rules of the nucleon.

We formulate the low-energy theorem for virtual Compton scattering off a nucleon and examine its consequences for generalized nucleon polarizabilites. As a result of a new, model-independent definition of the low-energy limit for doubly virtual Compton scattering, all generalized sum rules of the nucleon have a continuous limit for real photons and obtain contributions from the t channel that were not included previously.