Determining the size of the proton

A measurement of the Lamb shift of 49,881.88(76) GHz in muonic hydrogen in conjunction with theoretical estimates of the proton structure effects was recently used to deduce an accurate but rather small radius of the proton. Such an important shift in the understanding of fundamental values needs reconfirmation. Using a different approach with electromagnetic form factors of the proton, we obtain a new expression for the transition energy, Delta = E-2P3/2(f=2) - E-2S1/2(f=1), in muonic hydrogen and deduce a proton radius, r(P) = 0.831 fm. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V All rights reserved.