Normal single-spin asymmetries in electron-proton scattering: two-photon exchange with intermediate state resonances

Abstract

We calculate the beam ($B_n$) and target ($A_n$) normal single-spin asymmetries in electron-proton elastic scattering from two-photon exchange amplitudes with resonance intermediate states of spin-parity $1/2^\pm$ and $3/2^\pm$ and mass $W \lesssim 1.8$ GeV. The latest CLAS exclusive meson electroproduction data are used as input for the transition amplitudes from the proton to the excited resonance states. For $B_n$, the spin 3/2 resonances dominate by an order of magnitude over the spin 1/2 states. In general we observe cancellations between the negative contributions of the $\Delta(1232)$ and $N(1520)$ across both beam energy and scattering angle, and the positive contributions of the $\Delta(1700)$ and $N(1720)$, leading to a rather large overall uncertainty band in the total $B_n$. At forward angles and beam energies $E_\textrm{lab}<1$ GeV, where the $\Delta(1232)$ dominates, the calculated $B_n$ tend to overshoot the A4 and SAMPLE data. The calculated $B_n$ compare well with the measured values from the A4 and $Q_{\textrm{weak}}$ experiments with $E_\textrm{lab}>1$ GeV.