Measurements of electron-proton elastic cross sections for 0.4 < Q2 < 5.5 (GeV/c)2 -: art. no. 015206

We report on precision measurements of the elastic cross section for electron-proton scattering performed in Hall C at Jefferson Lab. The measurements were made at 28 distinct kinematic settings covering a range in momentum transfer of 0.4<5.5 (GeV/c)(2). These measurements represent a significant contribution to the world's cross section data set in the Q(2) range, where a large discrepancy currently exists between the ratio of electric to magnetic proton form factors extracted from previous cross section measurements and that recently measured via polarization transfer in Hall A at Jefferson Lab. This data set shows good agreement with previous cross section measurements, indicating that if a heretofore unknown systematic error does exist in the cross section measurements, then it is intrinsic to all such measurements.