Measurement of the deuteron elastic structure functions at large momentum transfers

The cross section for elastic electron-deuteron scattering has been measured using the Hall A Facility of Jefferson Laboratory. Scattered electrons and recoiling deuterons were detected in coincidence in the two 4 GeV/c High Resolution Spectrometers (HRS) of Hall A. The deuteron elastic structure functions A(Q{sup 2}) and B(Q{sup 2}) have been extracted from these data. Results for the measurement of A(Q{sup 2}) in the range of 0.7 ≤ Q{sup 2} ≤ 6.0 (GeV/c){sup 2} are reported. Results for the magnetic structure function, B(Q{sup 2}), are presented in the range of 0.7 ≤ Q{sup 2} ≤ 1.35 (GeV/c){sup 2}. The results for both structure functions are compared to predictions of meson-nucleon based models, both with and without the inclusion of meson-exchange currents. The A(Q{sup 2}) results are compared to predictions of the dimensional scaling quark model and perturbative quantum chromodynamics. The results can provide insights into the transition from meson-nucleon to quark-gluon descriptions of the nuclear two-body system