  The transverse charge density in a fast-moving nucleon is represented as a
dispersion integral of the imaginary part of the Dirac form factor in the
timelike region (spectral function). At a given transverse distance b the
integration effectively extends over energies in a range sqrt{t} ~< 1/b, with
exponential suppression of larger values. The transverse charge density at
peripheral distances thus acts as a low-pass filter for the spectral function
and allows one to select energy regions dominated by specific t-channel states,
corresponding to definite exchange mechanisms in the spacelike form factor. We
show that distances b ~ 0.5 - 1.5 fm in the isovector density are maximally
sensitive to the rho meson region, with only a ~10% contribution from
higher-mass states. Soft-pion exchange governed by chiral dynamics becomes
relevant only at larger distances. In the isoscalar density higher-mass states
beyond the omega are comparatively more important. The dispersion approach
suggests that the positive transverse charge density in the neutron at b ~ 1
fm, found previously in a Fourier analysis of spacelike form factor data, could
serve as a sensitive test of the the isoscalar strength in the ~1 GeV mass
region. In terms of partonic structure, the transverse densities in the vector
meson region b ~ 1 fm support an approximate mean-field picture of the motion
of valence quarks in the nucleon.
