Experimental Overview of the Proton's Gluonic Gravitational Form Factors

Understanding the proton’s fundamental properties, particularly the origin of its spin and mass, is one of the central questions of hadronic physics. Gravitational Form Factors (GFFs), have recently been the focus of an intense theoretical and experimental effort worldwide, because they provide insights into the nucleon’s spin structure, mass distribution and internal force dynamics.

This talk will provide an overview of the current and upcoming experimental programs aimed at measuring the proton's gluon GFFs. Recent results from Jefferson Lab experiments, including GlueX, J/ψ-007 and CLAS12 will be highlighted, with a focus on exclusive vector-meson production measurements. In particular, the differential cross section of the photoproduction of J/ψ off the proton has been identified as a key observable to access the gluon content off the proton and especially its gluon GFFs.

Finally, this talk will discuss the expected impact of future measurements at Jefferson Lab, especially with the proposed μCLAS12 and SoLID experiments, and at the future Electron Ion Collider.