Prof. Prof. Ioana Niculescu – James Madison University
“Large Bjorken x: Convergence Point for High and Medium Energy Physics”
Over the last thirty years or so nucleon structure functions have been measured over a wide range of x and Q2. However the region x>0.6, where a single quark carries most of the nucleon’s momentum is not well explored. In this region contributions from quark-antiquark sea become negligible, and the structure functions are dominated by valence quarks. Measurements of structure functions at large x will yield insights into mechanisms responsible for spin-flavor symmetry breaking. In addition, quark distributions at large x are a crucial input for estimating backgrounds in searches for new physics beyond the Standard Model at high energy colliders. In this talk I will explore some of the ways in which this large-x region will be probed by experiments at Jefferson Lab and Fermilab.
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