The average transverse distance between partons as measured by nucleon form factors

The values of $\text{d}\text{F}{}_1\text{(q}{}^2\text{)}\text{d}\text{q}{}^2$ at q²=0 for the neutron and the proton provide a measure of the average transverse separations squared, 〈$\text{y}{}^2$〉, between a u or d quark and the rest of the partons in a nucleon. Using the measured values of the form factors (together with parton x-distributions), we find that 〈$\text{y}{}^2\text{= 17.4}\text{GeV}{}^{\mathrm{?2}}$ for u quarks and 16.4 GeV^?2 for d quarks in a proton. We speculate that the small difference between u and d quarks is caused by “quark pairing” and discuss other possible experimental signatures of quark pairing.