How well do we know the neutron structure function?

Abstract

We present a detailed analysis of the uncertainty in the neutron F2n structure function extracted from inclusive deuteron and proton deep-inelastic scattering data. The analysis includes experimental uncertainties as well as uncertainties associated with the deuteron wave function, nuclear smearing, and nucleon off-shell corrections. Consistently accounting for the Q^2 dependence of the data and calculations, and restricting the nuclear corrections to microscopic models of the deuteron, we find significantly smaller uncertainty in the extracted F2n/F2p ratio than in previous analyses. In addition to yielding an improved extraction of the neutron structure function, this analysis also provides an important baseline that will allow future, model-independent extractions of neutron structure to be used to examine nuclear medium effects in the the deuteron.

5 pages, 6 figures

References in corpus (6)

• Short Range Correlations and the EMC Effect
• Distribution Functions of the Nucleon and Pion in the Valence Region
• Measurement of the neutron F2 structure function via spectator tagging with CLAS
• Next-to leading order analysis of target mass corrections to structure functions and asymmetries
• Neutron Structure Functions
• High-precision covariant one-boson-exchange potentials for np scattering below 350 MeV

Cited by in corpus (32)

• Parton distribution functions and benchmark cross sections at NNLO
• Constraints on large-$x$ parton distributions from new weak boson production and deep-inelastic scattering data
• Explanation and Prediction of Observables using Continuum Strong QCD
• Global parton distributions with nuclear and finite-Q^2 corrections
• A Critical Appraisal and Evaluation of Modern PDFs
• Measurement of the structure function of the nearly free neutron using spectator tagging in inelastic ${}^2$H(e, e'p)X scattering with CLAS
• Parton momentum and helicity distributions in the nucleon
• A detailed study of the nuclear dependence of the EMC effect and short-range correlations
• Nucleon spin structure at very high-x
• Progress in understanding short-range structure in nuclei: an experimental perspective
• Nuclear Effects in the Deuteron and Constraints on the d/u Ratio
• Measurement of the EMC Effect in the Deuteron
• Neutron valence structure from nuclear deep inelastic scattering
• Isovector EMC effect from global QCD analysis with MARATHON data
• Measurement of the EMC effect in light and heavy nuclei
• Impact of PDF uncertainties at large x on heavy boson production
• Measurements of the Separated Longitudinal Structure Function F_L from Hydrogen and Deuterium Targets at Low Q^2
• Searching for flavor dependence in nuclear quark behavior
• Vector boson scattering: Recent experimental and theory developments
• Final-state interactions in inclusive deep-inelastic scattering from the deuteron
• Nuclear final-state interactions in deep inelastic scattering off the lightest nuclei
• Direct observation of quark-hadron duality in the free neutron F_2 structure function
• Deep-inelastic and quasielastic electron scattering from $A=3$ nuclei
• Short-Range Correlations and the Nuclear EMC Effect in Deuterium and Helium-3
• Short-range correlations and their implications for isospin-dependent modification of nuclear quark distributions
• Extraction of the neutron F2 structure function from inclusive proton and deuteron deep-inelastic scattering data
• Quasielastic electron-deuteron scattering in the weak binding approximation
• High x Structure Function of the Virtually Free Neutron
• Examining the EMC Effect using the $F_2^n$ neutron structure function
• Exploring Nucleon Structure with the Self-Organizing Maps Algorithm
• Probing Pion Valence Quark Distribution with Beam-charge Asymmetry of Pion-induced $J/\psi$ Production
• Neutron structure function via a maximum entropy analysis