2019/02/10 by Cosyn, W., Weiss, C.
#FOS: Physical sciences #High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph) #Nuclear Experiment (nucl-ex) #Nuclear Theory (nucl-th)
paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1902.03678
Polarized electron-deuteron DIS with spectator proton tagging offers a way of measuring the neutron spin structure functions with maximal theoretical control of nuclear effects. We calculate the nuclear structure factors in the longitudinal double-spin asymmetries using methods of light-front nuclear structure. A unique feature of the spin-1 system is that spin asymmetries can be formed either relative to the cross section in all three spin states (λd = ± 1, 0) or in the two maximum-spin states only (± 1, involving tensor polarization). We find that the two-state deuteron spin asymmetry at small spectator proton momenta permits accurate extraction of the neutron structure function g1n. Such measurements could be performed at a future electron-ion collider (EIC) with polarized deuteron beams and suitable forward detectors.