Exploring Free and Bound Nucleon Structure Using Tagged DIS Measurements at the EIC

Measurements of DIS on the deuteron where the spectator nucleon is tagged in the final state (spectator tagging) enable access to both free nucleon structure, and nuclear modifications of bound nucleons. The use of the deuteron also enables access to an effective neutron beam in a collider, which allows for removal of nuclear binding effects present at very low transverse momentum ($<$ 100 MeV/c) via use of pole extrapolation – an improvement over currently available fixed-target measurements with light nuclear targets. The detection of the spectator nucleon fixes the nuclear configuration during the DIS process and permits differential studies of the nuclear modifications. In electron + deuteron measurements at the EIC the spectator nucleon is scattered at $\eta > 4.5$ - so called ``far-forward" rapidities. We present here detailed comparisons of the method of pole extrapolation for extraction of free nucleon structure with inclusive measurements using the BeAGLE event generator for e+d DIS events, as well as preliminary results and outlook for the study of nuclear modifications. We also present results on the feasibility of tagged DIS measurements with the baseline EIC far-forward detector design using realistic detector simulations for both proton and neutron detection.