Probing the Origin of the EMC Effect via Tagged Structure Functions of the Deuteron

Abstract

We demonstrate that measurement of tagged structure functions of the deuteron in (e,e'N) semi-inclusive reactions can discriminate between different hypotheses on the origin of the nuclear EMC effect. By choosing extreme backward kinematics for the spectator nucleon to minimize effects from the deuteron wave function and final state interactions, one can isolate the modifications in the structure of the bound nucleon within the impulse approximation. The same reaction can be used to extract the large-x neutron to proton structure function ratio.

Discussion of final state interactions added, including extra figure; final version to appear in Z. Phys. A