On the extraction of zero momentum form factors on the lattice

We propose a method to expand correlation functions with respect to the spatial components of external momenta. From the coefficients of the expansion it is possible to extract Lorentz-invariant form factors at zero spatial momentum transfer avoiding model dependent extrapolations. These objects can be profitably calculated on the lattice. We have explicitly checked the validity of the proposed procedure by considering two-point correlators with insertions of the axial current, the form factors of the semileptonic decay of pseudoscalar mesons, and the hadronic vacuum polarization tensor entering, for example, the lattice calculation of the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon.