Using the manifestly covariant spectator theory, and modeling the nucleon as a system of three constituent quarks with their own electromagnetic structure, we show that all four nucleon electromagnetic form factors can be very well described by a manifestly covariant nucleon wave function with zero orbital angular momentum. Since the concept of wave function depends on the formalism, the conclusions of light-cone theory requiring nonzero angular momentum components are not inconsistent with our results. We also show that our model gives a qualitatively correct description of deep inelastic scattering, unifying the phenomenology at high and low momentum transfer. Finally we review two different definitions of nuclear shape and show that the nucleon is spherical in this model, regardless of how shape is defined.

We compute the Ω − electromagnetic form factors and the decuplet baryon magnetic moments using a quark model application of the Covariant Spectator Theory. Our predictions for the Ω − electromagnetic form factors can be tested in the future by lattice QCD simulations at the physical strange quark mass.

Studies of the structure of excited baryons are key factors to the N* program at Jefferson Lab (JLab). Within the first year of data taking with the Hall B CLAS12 detector following the 12 GeV upgrade, a dedicated experiment will aim to extract the N* electrocouplings at high photon virtualities Q2. This experiment will allow exploration of the structure of N* resonances at the highest photon virtualities ever achieved, with a kinematic reach up to Q2 = 12 GeV 2. This high-Q2 reach will make it possible to probe the excited nucleon structures at distance scales ranging from where effective degrees of freedom, such as constituent quarks, are dominant through the transition to where nearly massless bare-quark degrees of freedom are relevant. In this document, we present a detailed description of the physics that can be addressed through N* structure studies in exclusive meson electroproduction. The discussion includes recent advances in reaction theory for extracting N* electrocouplings from meson electroproduction off protons, along with Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD)-based approaches to the theoretical interpretation of these fundamental quantities. This program will afford access to the dynamics of the nonperturbative strong interaction responsible for resonance formation, and will be crucial in understanding the nature of confinement and dynamical chiral symmetry breaking in baryons, and how excited nucleons emerge from QCD.

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The covariant spectator formalism is used to model the nucleon and the ∆(1232) as a system of three constituent quarks with their own electromagnetic structure. The definition of the "fixed-axis" polarization states for the diquark emitted from the initial state vertex and absorbed into the final state vertex is discussed. The helicity sum over those states is evaluated and seen to be covariant. Using this approach, all four electromagnetic form factors of the nucleon, together with the magnetic form factor, G * M , for the γN → ∆ transition, can be described using manifestly covariant nucleon and ∆ wave functions with zero orbital angular momentum L, but a successful description of G * M near Q 2 = 0 requires the addition of a pion cloud term not included in the class of valence quark models considered here. We also show that the pure S-wave model gives electric, G * E , and coulomb, G * C , transition form factors that are identically zero, showing that these form factors are sensitive to wave function components with L > 0.