Improved radiative corrections to (e,e'p) experiments and their impact on Rosenbluth measurements

This thesis is about qed effects occurring in electron scattering experiments.
There is a strong electron scattering community at Basel University and thus
a strong demand for high precision data analysis and for simulations. These
simulations are the experimental physicists' mean to control all aspects of
their electron scattering experiments. Among those effects which need to be
fully understood in order to achieve the highest possible accuracy in (e, e0p)
experiments are radiative corrections.
While we do not want to anticipate the introductory comments on the
importance of (e, e0p) experiments and the corrections to them from Chap. 1,
we do state here on a preliminary note that radiative corrections are important
in electron scattering experiments since they alter the four-momenta of all
particles involved. Analyzing such experiments involves unfolding the data from
these radiative processes in order to get back the vertex values of the particles'
four-momenta.
This thesis is organized as follows:
Its main part is about improving (e, e0p) radiative corrections. After an
introduction to (e, e0p) experiments and to radiative corrections, we will calculate
in Chap. 2 the multi-photon emission cross section using the soft-photon
approximation (spa) and the peaking approximation. And we will present the
exact single-photon bremsstrahlung result. In Chap. 3 we will remove the two
approximations mentioned above from the calculations (i) by introducing a
full angular Monte Carlo computation not using the peaking approximation
any more; and (ii) by introducing another Monte Carlo computation removing
partially also the spa from (e, e0p) data analyses. In Chap. 4 we will present
our results, testing them by inserting our Monte Carlo routines into a standard
(e, e0p) data analysis code from the Thomas Je�erson National Accelerator
Facility (tjnaf).
In Chap. 5 of this thesis we will apply our improved radiative corrections
treatment to cross section measurements using the so-called Rosenbluth
technique. After reviewing the much discussed discrepancy in the measurements
of the proton electric form factor Gep, we will present our results,
discussing the impact of the improved radiative corrections onto the Gep-problem.
In Chap. 6 we will review our results, present the conclusions and we
will give an outlook, focussing especially on further possible applications in
connection with the Gep-discrepancy, namely radiative corrections to e+e−
collider experiments.
Some of the content of this thesis has been published in nucl-th/0411033 * and is submitted for publication. More papers are in preparation and will be
submitted soon.