The quasipotential formalism for elastic scattering from relativistic bound states is formulated based on the instant constraint in the Breit frame. The quasipotential electromagnetic current is derived from Mandelstam's five-point kernel and obeys a two-body Ward identity. Breit-frame wave functions are obtained directly by solving integral equations with nonzero total three-momentum, thus accomplishing a dynamical boost. Calculations of electron-deuteron elastic form factors illustrate the importance of the dynamical boost versus kinematic boosts of the rest frame wave functions.
Categories: nucl-th