Lattice QCD study of the elastic and transition form factors of charmed baryons

Composite nature of a particle can be probed by electromagnetic interactions and information about their structure is embedded in form factors. Most of the experimental and theoretical efforts on baryon electromagnetic form factors have been focused on nucleon while the data on charmed sector are limited to spectroscopy, and weak and strong decays. Forthcoming experiments with a heavy-hadron physics program at major experimental facilities are expected to provide a wealth of information on charmed baryons, which calls for a better understanding of the heavy-sector dynamics from theoretical grounds. We review the progress in calculating the elastic and transition form factors of charmed baryons in lattice QCD. A collection of static observables, e.g. charge radii, multipole moments, are presented along with the elastic form factors up to [Formula: see text]. As one would expect the charmed baryons are compact in comparison to nucleon and this is due to the presence of valence charm quark(s). The elastic and transition magnetic moments are both suppressed. The lattice results provide predictions for the transition magnetic moments, transition and helicity amplitudes and consequentially the decay widths of some singly and doubly charmed baryons. In general, lattice results are consonant with the qualitative expectations of quark model and heavy-quark symmetry, although there are apparent quantitative differences up to two orders of magnitude in some cases. There are, however, indications that the lattice results can be utilized to improve the model predictions. Nevertheless, discrepancies between the lattice and nonlattice calculations need to be understood better to have a solid insight into the dynamics of the heavy sector. Furthermore, reliably determined charmed baryon observables would be invaluable input to investigate the nature of exotic states, which further emphasizes the importance of rigorous, first-principles calculations to advance our understanding of the dynamics of the heavy quarks and strong interactions.