Prospects for Gravitational Modulation of Nuclear Parton Distributions: An EMC-Effect Perspective

This work proposes a novel theoretical and experimental framework to investigate whether gravitational waves can induce measurable modulations in the quark momentum distributions of bound nucleons, as described by the EMC effect. The study outlines two main approaches: (1) reanalyzing archival deep inelastic scattering data for possible correlations with gravitational wave events, and (2) employing ultra-high precision nuclear spectroscopy—such as Mössbauer spectroscopy, NMR, and optical clocks—synchronized with gravitational wave detections. The methodology aims either to detect an unprecedented coupling between gravity and nuclear partonic structure or to set stringent upper bounds, thus opening a new interdisciplinary avenue between nuclear physics and gravitation.