Measurement of the Nucleon Structure Function F2 in the Nuclear Medium and Evaluation of its Moments

TL;DR

This study measures the nucleon structure function F2 in carbon nuclei using electron scattering, analyzing its moments and nuclear modifications, revealing insights into the EMC effect and higher-twist contributions in nuclear matter.

Contribution

First comprehensive analysis of F2 structure function moments in carbon nuclei across a wide Q2 range, including twist decomposition and nuclear modification insights.

Findings

Confirmation of the EMC effect in F2 moments.

Observation that higher-twist terms are smaller in carbon than in deuteron for n<7.

Indication of partial parton deconfinement in nuclear medium.

Abstract

We report on the measurement of inclusive electron scattering off a carbon target performed with CLAS at Jefferson Laboratory. A combination of three different beam energies 1.161, 2.261 and 4.461 GeV allowed us to reach an invariant mass of the final-state hadronic system W~2.4 GeV with four-momentum transfers Q2 ranging from 0.2 to 5 GeV2. These data, together with previous measurements of the inclusive electron scattering off proton and deuteron, which cover a similar continuous two-dimensional region of Q2 and Bjorken variable x, permit the study of nuclear modifications of the nucleon structure. By using these, as well as other world data, we evaluated the F2 structure function and its moments. Using an OPE-based twist expansion, we studied the Q2-evolution of the moments, obtaining a separation of the leading-twist and the total higher-twist terms. The carbon-to-deuteron ratio of the leading-twist contributions to the F2 moments exhibits the well known EMC effect, compatible with that discovered previously in x-space. The total higher-twist term in the carbon nucleus appears, although with large systematic uncertainites, to be smaller with respect to the deuteron case for n<7, suggesting partial parton deconfinement in nuclear matter. We speculate that the spatial extension of the nucleon is changed when it is immersed in the nuclear medium.