Parametrizations of the $\gamma^\ast N \to \Delta(1232)$ quadrupole form factors and Siegert's theorem

The large $N_c$ limit provides relations that can be used to calculate the $\gamma^\ast N \to \Delta(1232)$ quadrupole form factors at low and intermediate $Q^2$ under the assumption of the pion cloud dominance. There are two limitations in those parametrizations. First, the parametrization of the Coulomb quadrupole form factor underestimate the low $Q^2$ data. Second, when extrapolated for the timelike region, the form factors violate Siegert's theorem by terms of the order $1/N_c^2$. We propose here corrections to the parametrization of the electric quadrupole form factor, which violate Siegert's theorem only by terms of the order $1/N_c^4$. Combining the improved large $N_c$ pion cloud parametrizations with the valence quark contributions based on a covariant quark model for the quadrupole transition form factors, we obtain an extrapolation to the timelike region consistent with Siegert's theorem, and accomplish also a very good description of the data.