Quark-hadron duality constraints on \gamma Z box corrections to parity-violating elastic scattering

• Published in: arXiv.org 2015-11
• Main Authors: Hall, N L, Blunden, P G, Melnitchouk, W, Thomas, A W, Young, R D
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Elastic scattering; Inelastic scattering; Kinematics; Parity; Proton scattering; Quarks
• ISSN: 2331-8422
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.1504.03973

We examine the interference \gamma Z box corrections to parity-violating elastic electron--proton scattering in the light of the recent observation of quark-hadron duality in parity-violating deep-inelastic scattering from the deuteron, and the approximate isospin independence of duality in the electromagnetic nucleon structure functions down to Q^2 \approx 1 GeV^2. Assuming that a similar behavior also holds for the \gamma Z proton structure functions, we find that duality constrains the \gamma Z box correction to the proton's weak charge to be \Re e\, \square_{\gamma Z}^V = (5.4 \pm 0.4) \times 10^{-3} at the kinematics of the Q_{\text{weak}} experiment. Within the same model we also provide estimates of the \gamma Z corrections for future parity-violating experiments, such as MOLLER at Jefferson Lab and MESA at Mainz.