High Precision Measurement of Compton Scattering in the 5 GeV region

Abstract The cross section of atomic electron Compton scattering γ + e → γ ′ + e ′ was measured in the 4.400–5.475 GeV photon beam energy region by the PrimEx collaboration at Jefferson Lab with an accuracy of 2.6% and less. The results are consistent with theoretical predictions that include next-to-leading order radiative corrections. The measurements provide the first high precision test of this elementary QED process at beam energies greater than 0.1 GeV.