Compton Scattering Program Studying Nucleon Polarizabilities

Abstract

The A2 collaboration at the Mainz Microtron has undertaken a program of Compton scattering experiments with the goal of extracting the proton and, in the future, neutron polarizabilities. These are fundamental parameters that describe the response of the nucleon to an electromagnetic field. An extraction of these parameters will provide a crucial test of QCD theories. This talk presented the concept and status of this program, including some preliminary results.