The proton electric and magnetic form factors, GE and GM, are intrinsically connected to the spatial distribution of charge and magnetization in the proton. For decades, Rosenbluth separation measurements of the angular dependence of elastic e--p scattering were used to extract GE and GM. More recently, polarized electron scattering measurements, aiming to improve the precision of GE extractions, showed significant disagreement with Rosenbluth measurements at large momentum transfers (Q2). This discrepancy is generally attributed to neglected two-photon exchange (TPE) corrections. At larger Q2 values, a new ‘Super-Rosenbluth’ technique was used to improve the precision of the Rosenbluth extraction, allowing for a better quantification of the discrepancy, while comparisons of e+-p and e--p scattering indicated the presence of TPE corrections, but at Q2 values below where a clear discrepancy is observed. In this work, we demonstrate the significant benefits to combining the Super-Rosenbluth technique with positron beam measurements. This approach provides a greater kinematic reach and is insensitive to some of the key systematic uncertainties in previous positron measurements.

High-energy electron scattering is a clean, precise probe for measurements of hadronic and nuclear structure and plays a key role in understanding the role of high-momentum nucleons (and quarks) in nuclei. Jefferson Lab has dramatically expanded our knowledge of the high-momentum nucleons generated by short-range correlations, providing sufficient insight to model much of their impact on nuclear structure in neutron stars and in low- to medium-energy scattering observables, including neutrino oscillation measurements. These short-range correlations also seem related to the modification of the quark distributions in nuclei, and efforts to improve our understanding of the internal structure of these short-distance and high-momentum configurations in nuclei will provide important input on a wide range of high-energy observables.

In order to better understand the EMC effect, we propose a clean and precise measurement of the flavor dependence of the EMC effect using parity-violating deep inelastic scattering on a 48 Ca target. This measurement will provide an extremely sensitive test for flavor dependence in the modification of nuclear parton distribution functions (PDFs) for neutron-rich nuclei. A measurement of the flavor dependence will provide new and vital information and help to explain nucleon modification at the quark level. In addition to helping understand the origin of the EMC effect, a flavor-dependent nuclear pdf modification could significantly impact a range of processes, including neutrino-nucleus scattering, nuclear Drell-Yan processes, and e-A observables at the Electron-Ion Collider. The parity-violating asymmetry APV from 48 Ca using an 11 GeV beam at 80μA will be measured using the SoLID detector, proposed for a series of measurements in Hall A at Jefferson Lab. In 68 days of data taking, we will reach 0.7–1.3 % statistical precision for 0.2 < x< 0.7 with 0.6–0.7 % systematic uncertainties. The goal is to make the first direct measurement of the flavor dependence of the EMC effect. The precision of the measurement will allow for quantification of the flavor-dependent effects, greatly improving our ability to differentiate between models of the EMC effect and constraining the u- and d-quark contributions in neutron rich nuclei.

Electron scattering measurements from high-momentum nucleons in nuclei at SLAC and Jefferson Lab (JLab) have shown that these nucleons are generally associated with two-nucleon short-range correlations (2N-SRCs). These SRCs are formed when two nucleons in the nucleus interact at short distance via the strong tensor attraction or repulsive core of the NN potential. A series of measurements at JLab have mapped out the A dependence and isospin dependence of 2N-SRCs, and have begun to map out their momentum structure. However, we do not yet know if 3N-SRCs, similar high-momentum configurations of three nucleons, play an important role in nuclei. We summarize here previous attempts to isolate 3N-SRCs, go over the limitations of these previous attempts, and discuss the present and near-term prospects for searching for 3N-SRCs, mapping out their A dependence in nuclei, and constraining their isospin and momentum structure.

We determine the nucleon electromagnetic form factors and their uncertainties from world electron scattering data. The analysis incorporates two-photon exchange corrections, constraints on the low-Q2 and high-Q2 behavior, and additional uncertainties to account for tensions between different data sets and uncertainties in radiative corrections.

A series of experiments were performed in Hall A of Jefferson Lab in 2018 that used a novel tritium and helium-3 target system. These experiments took advantage of the isospin symmetry of these mirror nuclei to make precise measurements of isospin dependence in both nucleon and nuclear structure. We summarize here the design and properties of these cells, the physics measurements that have been published, and results currently under analysis from this program.

The proposed electron-ion collider has a rich physics program to study the internal structure of protons and heavy nuclei. This program will impose strict requirements on detector design. This paper explores how these requirements can be satisfied using an all-silicon tracking detector, by consideration of three representative probes: heavy flavor hadrons, jets, and exclusive vector mesons.

Understanding the origin and dynamics of hadron structure and in turn that of atomic nuclei is a central goal of nuclear physics. This challenge entails the questions of how does the roughly 1GeV mass-scale that characterizes atomic nuclei appear; why does it have the observed value; and, enigmatically, why are the composite Nambu-Goldstone (NG) bosons in quantum chromodynamics (QCD) abnormally light in comparison? In this perspective, we provide an analysis of the mass budget of the pion and proton in QCD; discuss the special role of the kaon, which lies near the boundary between dominance of strong and Higgs mass-generation mechanisms; and explain the need for a coherent effort in QCD phenomenology and continuum calculations, in exa-scale computing as provided by lattice QCD, and in experiments to make progress in understanding the origins of hadron masses and the distribution of that mass within them. We compare the unique capabilities foreseen at the electron-ion collider (EIC) with those at the hadron-electron ring accelerator (HERA), the only previous electron-proton collider; and describe five key experimental measurements, enabled by the EIC and aimed at delivering fundamental insights that will generate concrete answers to the questions of how mass and structure arise in the pion and kaon, the Standard Model's NG modes, whose surprisingly low mass is critical to the evolution of our Universe.