Baryonic content of the pion

Abstract

The baryon form factor of charged pions arises since isospin symmetry is broken with unequal up and down quark masses, $m_d>m_u$, as well as electromagnetic effects. We obtain estimates for this basic property in two phenomenological ways: from simple constituent quark models, as well as from fitting the $e^+e^- \to π^+ π^-$ data. All our methods yield the result that the baryon mean square radius, extracted from the slope of the form factor, is positive for $π^+$, hence a picture where the outer region has a net baryon, and the inner region a net antibaryon density, both compensating each other such that the total baryon number is zero. For $π^-$ the effect is equal and opposite. We estimate the corresponding mean squared baryon radius as $\langle r^2 \rangle_B^{π^{+}} = (0.03-0.04~{\rm fm})^2$.