Abstract
The 21st century holds great promise for reaching a new era for unlocking the mysteries of the structure of the atomic nucleus and the nucleons inside it governed by the theory of strong interactions (QCD). In particular, much remains to be learned about the dynamical basis of the structure of hadrons and nuclei in terms of the fundamental quarks and gluons. One of the main goals of existing and nearly completed facilities is to map out the spin flavor structure of the nucleons in the valence region. A future Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) would be the world’s first polarized electron-proton collider, and the world’s first e-A collider, and would seek the QCD foundation of nucleons and nuclei in terms of the sea quarks and gluons, matching to these valence quark studies. The EIC will provide a versatile range of kinematics and beam polarization, as well as beam species, to allow for mapping the spin and spatial structure of the quark sea and gluons, to discover the collective effects of gluons in atomic nuclei, and to understand the emergence of hadronic matter from color charge.
Highlights
A fundamental goal of modern nuclear science is to discover, explore, and understand the fundamental constituents of matter, the hadrons and the nuclei, on the basis of the fundamental theory of strong interactions, Quantum ChromoDynamics (QCD) [1]
In the quest of understanding hadron structure in terms of the basic QCD degrees of freedom experiments involving electroweak probes are an important source of information
A polarized e-p/e-A collider (Electron-Ion Collider, EIC) with variable center of mass energy and polarized luminosity over the full energy range would be the ultimate machine to address these intellectually pressing questions related to our fundamental understanding of QCD
Summary
A fundamental goal of modern nuclear science is to discover, explore, and understand the fundamental constituents of matter, the hadrons and the nuclei, on the basis of the fundamental theory of strong interactions, Quantum ChromoDynamics (QCD) [1]. A central question is what role the non-valence called "sea" quarks and gluons play in nucleon structure, e.g., their spatial distributions, response to polarization, and the contribution of their orbital motion to the formation of nucleon spin Another question is related to collective effects of gluons in nuclei, for instance, how the transverse spatial structure of gluons in the nucleon compares to that in the nucleon and the approach to a new regime of high gluon densities and saturation at high energies. A polarized e-p/e-A collider (Electron-Ion Collider, EIC) with variable center of mass energy and polarized luminosity over the full energy range would be the ultimate machine to address these intellectually pressing questions related to our fundamental understanding of QCD Such a facility would provide the required combination of kinematic reach, polarized luminosity, and detection capabilities to explore nucleon and nuclear structure well into the sea quark and gluon-dominated regime. Understand the emergence of hadronic matter from color charge, e.g., how does the nuclear medium respond to a fast moving color charge
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