Physics Opportunity with an Electron-Ion Collider

Patrizia Rossi

doi:10.1088/1742-6596/770/1/012041

Abstract

Understanding the emergence of nucleons and nuclei and their interactions from the properties and dynamics of quarks and gluons in Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) is a fundamental and compelling goal of nuclear science. A high-energy, high-luminosity polarized electron-ion collider (EIC) will be needed to explore and advance many aspects of QCD studies in the gluon dominated regions in nucleon and nuclei. The federal Nuclear Science Advisory Committee unanimously approved a high-energy electro-ion collider to explore a new frontier in physics research. In fact, the committee calls the collider the country's next “highest priority” in new facility construction, and is one of four main recommendations contained in its 2015 Long Range Plan for Nuclear Science. Two proposals for the EIC are being considered in the U.S.: one each at Jefferson Laboratory (JLab) and at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL). An overview of the physics opportunities an EIC presents to the nuclear science community in future decades is presented.

Highlights

The last missing piece in the current Standard Model was discovered: the Higgs boson
The electron-ion collider (EIC) will be unique in colliding polarised electrons off polarised protons and light nuclei, providing the spin degrees of freedom essential to pursue a physics program driven by spin structure, multi-dimensional tomographic images of protons and nuclei, and discovery of the role of collective effects of gluons in nuclei [2]
Such a facility would capitalize on the powerful new experimental techniques for exploring nucleon structure that are being developed for the 12 GeV Jefferson Laboratory (JLab) program and the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) program, and apply them to the low x region where the dynamics is dominated by the gluons

Summary

Introduction

The last missing piece in the current Standard Model was discovered: the Higgs boson. How do quarks and gluons propagate in nuclear matter and join together to form hadrons? The EIC will be unique in colliding polarised electrons off polarised protons and light nuclei, providing the spin degrees of freedom essential to pursue a physics program driven by spin structure, multi-dimensional tomographic images of protons and nuclei, and discovery of the role of collective effects of gluons in nuclei [2].

Results

Conclusion