Cottingham formula for the electromagnetic self-energy contribution to Mp-Mn

Abstract

We provide an update of the determination of the electromagnetic self-energy contribution to MpMn based upon Cottingham's Formula. A technical oversight in the literature is uncovered: the application of the Cottingham Formula requires the use of a subtracted dispersion integral; an argument to evade the subtraction function was presented; the argument was based on false assumptions about the scaling violations of the parton model, a point first mentioned by J. C. Collins. We elucidate this point and utilize low-energy effective theory to relate the unknown subtraction function to the nucleon isovector magnetic polarizability. This allows us to provide the first reliable determination of dMg = 1:30(03)(47) MeV [1].