Two-photon exchange in elastic electron-proton scattering : QCD factorization approach

We estimate the two-photon exchange contribution to elastic electron-proton scattering at large momentum transfer $Q^2$. It is shown that the leading two-photon exchange amplitude behaves as $1/Q^4$ relative to the one-photon amplitude, and can be expressed in a model independent way in terms of the leading twist nucleon distribution amplitudes. Using several models for the nucleon distribution amplitudes, we provide estimates for existing data and for ongoing experiments.