A new high-energy electron–ion collider: High precision QCD structure and beyond

Abstract

A new high-energy electron–ion collider is discussed which will allow unprecedented study of the quark and gluon structure of the proton as well as nuclei. Using polarized beams one will be able to explore the polarized quark and gluon distributions of the nucleon at the few percent level, especially the strange and light quark sea components. Collider kinematics and excellent detection capabilities will enable careful study of the process by which a fast colored quark materializes into a group of energetic hadrons without color. Collisions with heavy nuclei, never before achieved at high center-of-mass energies, will allow the study of quantum chromodynamics (QCD) at extremes of gluon density. In addition to the physics program, the existing accelerator options under consideration are presented, as well as the current design of the interaction region spectrometer.