Finite-volume corrections to charge radii

The finite-volume nature of lattice QCD entails a variety of effects that must be handled in the process of performing chiral extrapolations. Since the pion cloud that surrounds hadrons becomes distorted in a finite volume, hadronic observables must be corrected before one can compare with the experimental values. The electric charge radius of the nucleon is of particular interest when considering the implementation of finite-volume corrections. It is common practice in the literature to transform electric form factors from the lattice into charge radii prior to analysis. However, there is a fundamental difficulty with using these charge radii in a finite-volume extrapolation. The subtleties are a consequence of the absence of a continuous derivative on the lattice. A procedure is outlined for handling such finite-volume corrections, which must be applied directly to the electric form factors themselves rather than to the charge radii. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.