Influence of the polarization direction on the extraction of the deuteron tensor polarized b1 structure function.*

In charged lepton-deep inelastic scattering, a charged lepton scatters off a hadron and is used to probe the hadron’s internal structure. If the target is a spin 1 hadron, four additional observables are introduced compared to the spin ½ nucleon, namely the b1, b2, b3, and b4 structure functions. These observables can provide further insight into the quark and gluon structure of the target, and the influence of nuclear interactions on partonic distributions.

 

Jefferson Lab (JLab) has an upcoming experiment in which it will measure the b1 structure function of the tensor polarized deuteron. Theoretically the extraction of b1 from the measured asymmetries is most straightforward with the deuteron polarized along the virtual photon direction.  Experimentally, having polarization along the electron beam direction is more practical but makes the b1 extraction more involved as other contributions mix in.  

 

We present a theoretical study using a convolution model for deuteron structure where we investigate the influence of the polarization direction on the extracted b1 values and associated uncertainties.  The results can help guide the choices made in the upcoming Jlab experiment.