The Challenge of the EMC Effect: existing data and future directions

TL;DR

This paper reviews the extensive experimental data and current theoretical understanding of the EMC effect, highlighting its significance in nuclear physics and discussing future research directions.

Contribution

It compiles the most precise existing data on nuclear to deuteron ratios and provides a commentary on the current theoretical status of the EMC effect.

Findings

Precise measurements of nuclear to deuteron cross section ratios

Current theories cannot fully explain the EMC effect

Future experiments are needed to resolve remaining questions

Abstract

Since the discovery that the ratio of inclusive charged lepton (per-nucleon) cross sections from a nucleus A to the deuteron is not unity - even in deep inelastic scattering kinematics - a great deal of experimental and theoretical effort has gone into understanding the phenomenon. The EMC effect, as it is now known, shows that even in the most extreme kinematic conditions the effects of the nucleon being bound in a nucleus can not be ignored. In this paper we collect the most precise data available for various nuclear to deuteron ratios, as well as provide a commentary on the current status of the theoretical understanding of this thirty year old effect.