Investigation of the Neutron Structure Function via Semi-inclusive Deep Inelastic Electron Scattering off the Deuteron

The production of slow nucleons in semi-inclusive deep inelastic electron scattering off the deuteron is investigated in the region x ∼ > 0.3 for kinematical conditions accessible at HERA. Within the spectator mechanism the semi-inclusive cross section exhibits a scaling property, which can be used as a model-independent test of the dominance of the spectator mechanism itself, providing in this way an interesting tool to investigate the neutron structure function. The possibility of extracting model-independent information on the neutron to proton structure function ratio from semi-inclusive experiments is also illustrated. aTo appear in the Proceedings of the Workshop on Future Physics at HERA, DESY (Germany), September 1995 to May 1996. Investigation of the neutron structure function via semi-inclusive deep inelastic electron scattering off the deuteron