Exploring Meson Structure Functions with Tagged Deep Inelastic Scattering

The tagged deep inelastic scattering (TDIS) run-group of experiments at Jefferson Lab (JLab) will probe the mesonic content of the nucleon via the Sullivan process, in which an electron scatters from the meson cloud of the nucleon. TDIS is a pioneering experimental program at JLab employing spectator tagging to access the Sullivan process. It will enable a unique and clean extraction of the F₂ structure functions (SF) of pions and kaons. There has been a huge resurgence of interest in the meson SFs since they were identified as key to mapping out the momentum dependence of the dressed quark mass which may help understand the origins of hadron mass. The TDIS program is well-positioned to provide this highly anticipated new data on the meson structure in the valence regime. The status of the experiment and all the significant new developments will be discussed in this talk.