Dynamical Study of the Delta Excitation in N(e,e' pi) Reactions

The dynamical model developed in [Phys. Rev. C 54, 2660 (1996)] has been applied to investigate the pion electroproduction reactions on the nucleon. It is found that the model can describe to a very large extent the recent data of p(e,e' pi^0) reaction from Jefferson Laboratory and MIT-Bates. The extracted magnetic dipole(M1), electric dipole(E2), and Coulomb(C2) strengths of the gamma N -> Delta transition are presented. It is found that the C2/M1 ratio drops significantly with Q^2 and reaches about -13% at Q^2=4 (GeV/c)^2, while the E2/M1 ratio remains close to the value \sim -3 % at the Q^2=0 photon point. The determined M1 transition form factor drops faster than the usual dipole form factor of the proton. We also find that the non-resonant interactions can dress the gamma N -> Delta vertex to enhance strongly its strength at low Q^2, but much less at high Q^2. Predictions are presented for future experimental tests. Possible developments of the model are discussed.