Efrain Segarra

Bound proton structure from tagged-neutron deep inelastic scattering on deuterium at JLab"

Abstract: The EMC effect -- the modification of quarks in bound nucleons -- is a decades-old open question in QCD research, with far-reaching implications for our understanding of the fundamental structure of matter. While inclusive deep inelastic scattering (DIS) measurements have characterized many features of the EMC effect, their insensitivity to the initial state of the struck bound nucleon limits their ability to pinpoint the mechanisms driving quark modification.

Spectator-tagged deep inelastic scattering measurements provide the opportunity to study bound nucleon structure as a function of the struck nucleon's virtuality. The backward angle neutron detector (BAND) was constructed to measure spectator neutrons in deuterium with bound proton deep inelastic scattering. This novel measurement is sensitive to the bound proton's structure within deuterium.

In my talk, I will explore our theoretical efforts to pinpoint the underlying modification of quark structure, present the BAND experiment and its preliminary results, and discuss the implications of our measurement.