Dynamical properties of baryons

The internal structure of composite particles is conveniently described in terms of form factors (FFs)—these are experimentally accessible in annihilation and scattering of elementary reactions, and are theoretically calculable by all models that describe the properties of particles. FFs depend only on one kinematical variable, q2 . This is the four-momentum transferred by the virtual photon that carries the interaction. Important developments in accelerator and detector techniques have brought impressive advances, both by extending the kinematical region and by reaching a higher precision. A critical review on the underlying methods and findings in polarized and unpolarized experiments is presented. The unique role played by polarization in determining the ratio of electric to magnetic form factors in the space-like region, and the extraction of individual form factors in the whole kinematical region, are described. Recent results at electron accelerators and electron–positron colliders confirm the existence of periodical structure in the annihilation cross section. We suggest a global framework which describes the dynamical structure of charge distribution in baryons, in order to build a coherent view of the creation and annihilation of baryonic matter.