SIDIS Measurement with A=3 Nuclei

TL;DR

This paper presents a new experimental approach at Jefferson Lab to measure pion electroproduction ratios in SIDIS from light nuclei, aiming to explore nuclear effects on parton distributions and fragmentation functions with high precision.

Contribution

It introduces a novel experimental setup and methodology to extract flavor-dependent nuclear modifications and d/u ratios using mirror nuclei in SIDIS.

Findings

Potential to reveal flavor dependence in the EMC effect

Enhanced precision in d/u ratio measurements at large x

Reduced nuclear uncertainties in SIDIS measurements

Abstract

We introduce a new experimental effort at Jefferson Lab (JLab) to precisely measure the ratios of charged pion electroproduction in Semi-Inclusive Deep Inelastic Scattering (SIDIS) from $^2$D, $^3$He, and $^3$H targets \cite{c12-21-004}. This conditionally approved experiment (C12-21-004) aims to run in Hall-B using the standard CLAS12 configuration and a new target system developed for the approved quasi-elastic experiment (E12-20-005). In this data-driven study, we will measure the cross-sections as a function of ($x$, $Q^2$, $z$, $P_T$) to allow the extraction of the unpolarized parton distribution functions (PDFs), transverse momentum distributions (TMDs) and fragmentation functions (FFs) in A = 3 nuclei. By using super-ratios of pion yields of SIDIS off light nuclei over a wide $x_B$ range, we search for evidence of a flavor dependence in the EMC effect, giving us new insights into the effect of the nuclear environment on valance quarks. Double-ratios between A = 3 mirror nuclei can provide a direct measurement of the d/u ratios at large x due to their similar and well-understood nuclear corrections. With the utilization of mirror nuclei and the large kinematic range, and high precision of CLAS12, we will be able to maintain the sensitivity to the underlying physics but dramatically decrease the nuclear uncertainties due to attenuation and hadronization in heavy nuclei targets.