The representation of the wave functions of the nucleon resonances within a relativistic framework is a complex task. In a nonrelativistic framework the orthogonality between states can be imposed naturally. In a relativistic generalization, however, the derivation of the orthogonality condition between states can be problematic, particularly when the states have different masses. In this work we study the N (1520) and N (1535) states using a relativistic framework. We considered wave functions derived in previous works, but impose the orthogonality between the nucleon and resonance states using the properties of the nucleon, ignoring the difference of masses between the states (semirelativistic approximation). The N (1520) and N (1535) wave functions are then defined without any adjustable parameters and are used to make predictions for the valence quark contributions to the transition form factors. The predictions compare well with the data particularly for high momentum transfer, where the dominance of the quark degrees of freedom is expected.
I. INTRODUCTIONIn the last century we learned that the hadrons, including the nucleon (N ) and the nucleon excitations (N * ) are not pointlike particles and have their own internal structure. The structure of those states is the result of the internal constituents, quarks and gluons, and the interactions ruled by Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD). In the last decades experimental facilities such as Jefferson Lab (JLab), MAMI (Mainz) and MIT-Bates have accumulated information (data) about the electromagnetic structure of the nucleon resonances, parametrized in terms of structure form factors for masses up to 3 GeV [1,2].Several theoretical models have been proposed to interpret the nucleon resonance spectrum and the information associated with its internal structure [1][2][3]. Different models provide different parametrizations of the internal structure in terms of the effective degrees of freedom. Some of the more successful models are the constituent quark models (CQM) based on nonrelativistic kinematics like the Karl-Isgur model [3,4] and the Light Front quark models (LFQM) defined in the infinite momentum frame [5][6][7]. In those extreme cases, nonrelativistic models or LFQM, the kinematics is simplified. In general, however, the transition between the nonrelativistic and relativistic regimes is not a trivial task.In this work we discuss the γ * N → N * transition form factors for resonances N * with negative parity. The definition of the wave functions of the nucleon (mass M N ) and a nucleon excitation (mass M R ), in terms of the internal quark degrees of freedom, can be done first in the rest frame of the particle, and extended later for a moving frame using a Lorentz transformation. In a nonrelativistic framework the mass and energy of the state are not relevant for the definition of the states. Moreover, the orthogonality between the nucleon and the resonance N * is ensured, since the wave functions are independent of their masses. To understand the complexity of ...