SU(6) breaking effects in the nucleon elastic electromagnetic form factors

The effects of SU(6) breaking on the nucleon elastic form factors are investigated within the constituent quark model formulated on the light-front. It is shown that the kinematical SU(6) breaking caused by the Melosh rotations of the quark spins as well as the dynamical SU(6) breaking due to the mixed-symmetry component generated in the nucleon wave function by the spin-dependent terms of the quark-quark interaction, can affect both GEn(Q**2) and GMp(Q**2)/GMn(Q**2). The calculated GEn(Q**2) is found to be qualitatively consistent with existing data. while the calculations of GM(Q**2) based on the plus component of the current are found to be plagued by spurious effects related to the loss of the rotational covariance in the light-front formalism. These unwanted effects can be avoided by considering the transverse y-component of the current. In this way our light-front predictions are found to be consistent with the data on both GEn(Q**2) and GMp(Q**2)/GMn(Q**2). Finally, it is shown that a suppression of the ratio GEp(Q**2)/GMp(Q**2) with respect to the dipole-fit prediction can be expected in the constituent quark model provided the relativistic effects generated by the Melosh rotations of the constituent spins are taken into account.