Neutron structure function and inclusive DIS from H-3 and He-3 targets at large Bjorken-x

Abstract

A detailed study of inclusive deep inelastic scattering from mirror A = 3 nuclei at large values of Bjorken-x is presented. The main purpose is to estimate the theoretical uncertainties on the extraction of F2n from such measurements. Within the convolution approach we confirm the cancellation of nuclear effects at the level of ~1 % for x < 0.75 in overall agreement with previous findings. However, within models in which modifications of the bound nucleon structure functions are accounted for to describe the EMC effect in nuclei, we find that the nuclear effects may be canceled at a level of ~ 3 % only, leading to an accuracy of ~ 12 % in the extraction of F2n / F2p at x ~ 0.7 - 0.8. Another consequence of bound nucleon modifications is that the iteration procedure does not improve the accuracy of the extraction of F2n / F2p.