Neutron Structure Functions From Nuclear Data
Abstract
The spin-averaged structure function of the neutron, F_2^n, is extracted from recent deuteron data, taking into account the small but significant corrections due to nuclear effects in the deuteron. At small x, the F_2D/F_2p ratio measured by the New Muon and Fermilab E665 Collaborations is interpreted to suggest a small amount of shadowing in deuterium, which acts to enhance F_2^n for x < 0.1. A careful treatment of Fermi motion, binding and nucleon off-shell effects in the deuteron also indicates that the neutron/proton structure function ratio as x -> 1 is consistent with the perturbative QCD expectation of 3/7, but larger than the traditional value of 1/4.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.nucl-th/9603021,
title = {Neutron Structure Functions From Nuclear Data},
author = {W. Melnitchouk and A. W. Thomas},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:nucl-th/9603021},
year = {2010}
}
Comments
16 pages RevTeX, 5 postscript figures, presented at 2nd. Cracow Epiphany Conference on Proton Structure, Jan. 1996