Dispersive contributions to e+p/e-p cross section ratio in forward regime

Two-photon exchange (TPE) contributions to elastic electron-proton scattering in the forward regime are considered. The imaginary part of TPE amplitude in these kinematics is related to the DIS nucleon structure functions. The real part of the TPE amplitude is obtained from the imaginary part by means of dispersion relations. We demonstrate that the dispersion integrals for the relevant elastic ep-scattering amplitude converge and do not need subtraction. This allows us to make clean prediction for the real part of the TPE amplitude at forward angles. We furthermore compare e(+)p and e(-)p cross sections which depends on the real part of TPE amplitude, and predict the positron cross section to exceed the electron one by a few per cent, with the difference ranging from 1.4% to 2.8% for electron lab energies in the range from 3 to 45 GeV. We furthermore predict that the absolute value of this asymmetry grows with energy, which makes it promising for experimental tests. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V All rights reserved.