New Discoveries on Mass Distribution in Hadrons
Scientists have calculated the trace anomaly for nucleons and pions, revealing insights into how mass is distributed in hadrons, such as protons and neutrons. This research, published in Physical Review D, uses lattice quantum chromodynamics to simulate mass distribution, showing similarities between the pion's mass and the neutron's charge distribution, and the nucleon's mass and the proton's charge distribution. These findings are crucial for understanding the nucleon mass and will guide future experiments at the Electron-Ion Collider to explore the inner structure of protons.