Low-energy analysis of the nucleon electromagnetic form factors

We analyze the electromagnetic form factors of the nucleon to fourth order in relativistic baryon chiral perturbation theory. We employ the recently p roposed infrared regularization scheme and show that the convergence of the chiral expansion is improved as compared to the heavy-fermion approach. We also discuss the inclusion of vector mesons and obtain an accurate descrip tion of ail four-nucleon form factors for momentum transfer squared up to Q (2) similar or equal to 0.4 GeV2. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.