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Nucleon structure functions, as measured in lepton-nucleon scattering, have historically provided a critical observable in the study of partonic dynamics within the nucleon. However, at very large parton momenta, it is both experimentally and theoretically challenging to extract parton distributions due to the probable onset of nonperturbative contributions and the unavailability of high-precision data at critical kinematics. Extraction of the neutron structure and the d quark distribution have been further challenging because of the necessity of applying nuclear corrections when utilizing scattering data from a deuteron target to extract the free neutron structure. However, a program of experiments has been carried out recently at the energy-upgraded Jefferson Lab electron accelerator aimed at significantly reducing the nuclear correction uncertainties on the d quark distribution function at large partonic momentum. This allows leveraging the vast body of deuterium data covering a large kinematic range to be utilized for d quark parton distribution function extraction. In this Letter, we present new data from experiment E12-10-002, carried out in Jefferson Lab Experimental Hall C, on the deuteron to proton cross section ratio at large Bjorken $x$. These results significantly improve the precision of existing data and provide a first look at the expected impact on quark distributions extracted from parton distribution function fits. 

The spin structure functions of the proton and the deuteron were measured during the EG4 experiment at Jefferson Lab in 2006. Data were collected for longitudinally polarized electron scattering off longitudinally polarized NH3 and ND3 targets, for Q2 values as small as 0.012 and 0.02 GeV2, respectively, using the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer. This is the archival paper of the EG4 experiment that summarizes the previously reported results of the polarized structure functions g1, A1F1, and their moments 1, γ0, and ITT, for both the proton and the deuteron. In addition, we report on new results on the neutron g1 extracted by combining proton and deuteron data and correcting for Fermi smearing, and on the neutron moments 1, γ0, and ITT formed directly from those of the proton and the deuteron. Our data are in good agreement with the Gerasimov-Drell-Hearn sum rule for the proton, deuteron, and neutron. Furthermore, the isovector combination was formed for g1 and the Bjorken integral p−n 1 ,andit was compared to available theoretical predictions. All of our results, to the best of our knowledge, provide for the first time extensive tests of spin observable predictions from chiral effective field theory (χEFT) in a Q2 range commensurate with the pion mass. They motivate further improvement in χEFT calculations from other approaches such as the lattice gauge method.