The electron-ion collider: assessing the energy dependence of key measurements

Back-to-Back Inclusive Dijets in Deep Inelastic Scattering at Small x: Complete NLO Results and Predictions

We compute the back-to-back dijet cross section in deep inelastic scattering at small x to next-to-leading order (NLO) in the color glass condensate effective field theory. Our result can be factorized into a convolution of the Weizsäcker-Williams gluon transverse-momentum-dependent distribution function (WW gluon TMD) with a universal soft factor and an NLO coefficient function. The soft factor includes both double and single logarithms in the ratio of the relative transverse momentum P_{⊥} of the dijet pair to the dijet momentum imbalance q_{⊥}; its renormalization group (RG) evolution is resummed into the Sudakov factor. Likewise, the WW TMD obeys a nonlinear RG equation in x that is kinematically constrained to satisfy both the lifetime and rapidity ordering of the projectile. Exact analytical expressions are obtained for the NLO coefficient function of transversely and longitudinally polarized photons. Our results allow for the first quantitative separation of the dynamics of Sudakov suppression from that of gluon saturation. They can be extended to other final states and provide a framework for precision tests of novel QCD many-body dynamics at the Electron-Ion Collider.

Multiscale Imaging of Nuclear Deformation at the Electron-Ion Collider

We show within the color glass condensate framework that exclusive vector meson production at high energy is very sensitive to the geometric deformation of the target nucleus at multiple length scales. We show that different multipole deformation parameters affect different regions of transverse momentum transfer. These results have two important consequences: (1) Deformations of nuclear targets need to be taken into account when making predictions for and interpreting certain observables at the EIC. (2) Differential diffractive vector meson production has the potential to become a powerful tool, enabling the most direct measurements of nuclear structure at different length scales, ranging from large scale nuclear deformation at low transverse momentum transfer to fluctuations on nucleon- and subnucleon-size scales at higher transverse momentum transfer.

Proton Structure Functions at Next-to-Leading Order in the Dipole Picture with Massive Quarks

We predict heavy quark production cross sections in deep inelastic scattering at high energy by applying the color glass condensate effective theory. We demonstrate that, when the calculation is performed consistently at next-to-leading order accuracy with massive quarks, it becomes possible, for the first time in the dipole picture with perturbatively calculated center-of-mass energy evolution, to simultaneously describe both the light and heavy quark production data at small x_{Bj}. Furthermore, we show how the heavy quark cross section data provides additional strong constraints on the extracted nonperturbative initial condition for the small-x_{Bj} evolution equations.

Probing Parton Saturation and the Gluon Dipole via Diffractive Jet Production at the Electron-Ion Collider

We demonstrate that hard dijet production via coherent inelastic diffraction is a promising channel for probing gluon saturation at the Electron-Ion Collider. By inelastic diffraction, we mean a process in which the two hard jets-a quark-antiquark pair generated by the decay of the virtual photon-are accompanied by a softer gluon jet, emitted by the quark or the antiquark. This process can be described as the elastic scattering of an effective gluon-gluon dipole. The cross section takes a factorized form, between a hard factor and a unintegrated ("Pomeron") gluon distribution describing the transverse momentum imbalance between the hard dijets. The dominant contribution comes from the black disk limit and leads to a dijet imbalance of the order of the target saturation momentum Q_{s} evaluated at the rapidity gap. Integrating out the dijet imbalance, we obtain a collinear factorization where the initial condition for the Dokshitzer-Gribov-Lipatov-Altarelli-Parisi evolution is set by gluon saturation.

Probing Gluon Bose Correlations in Deep Inelastic Scattering

We study correlations originating from the quantum nature of gluons in a hadronic wave function. Bose-Einstein correlation between identical particles lead to the enhancement in the number of pairs of gluons with the same quantum numbers and small relative momentum. We show that these preexisting correlations can be probed in deep inelastic scattering experiments at high energy. Specifically, we consider diffractive dijet plus a third jet production. The azimuthal dependence displays a peak at the zero relative angle between the transverse momentum imbalance of the photon-going dijet and the transverse momentum of the hadron-going jet. Our calculations explicitly show that the peak originates from Bose enhancement. Comparing electron-proton to electron-nucleus collisions, we demonstrate that the nuclear target enhances the relative strength of the peak. With the future high luminosity electron-ion collider the proposed measurements of gluon Bose enhancement become experimentally feasible.

Heavy-flavor impact on CTEQ-TEA global QCD analyses

We discuss heavy-flavor production at hadron colliders in recent global QCD analyses to determine parton distribution functions (PDFs) in the proton. We discuss heavy-flavor treatments in precision theory predictions at the LHC. In particular, we discuss factorization schemes in presence of heavy flavors in proton-proton collisions, as well as the impact of heavy-flavor production at the LHC on PDFs. We show results of recent updates beyond CT18, the latest global QCD analysis from the CTEQ-TEA group.

Mining for Gluon Saturation at Colliders

Quantum chromodynamics (QCD) is the theory of strong interactions of quarks and gluons collectively called partons, the basic constituents of all nuclear matter. Its non-abelian character manifests in nature in the form of two remarkable properties: color confinement and asymptotic freedom. At high energies, perturbation theory can result in the growth and dominance of very gluon densities at small-x. If left uncontrolled, this growth can result in gluons eternally growing violating a number of mathematical bounds. The resolution to this problem lies by balancing gluon emissions by recombinating gluons at high energies: phenomena of gluon saturation. High energy nuclear and particle physics experiments have spent the past decades quantifying the structure of protons and nuclei in terms of their fundamental constituents confirming predicted extraordinary behavior of matter at extreme density and pressure conditions. In the process they have also measured seemingly unexpected phenomena. We will give a state of the art review of the underlying theoretical and experimental tools and measurements pertinent to gluon saturation physics. We will argue for the need of high energy electron-proton/ion colliders such as the proposed EIC (USA) and LHeC (Europe) to consolidate our knowledge of QCD knowledge in the small x kinematic domains.

The smallest fluid on Earth

High energy heavy ion collisions create quark gluon plasmas that behave like almost perfect fluids. Very similar features to those that led to this insight have also been observed in experimental data from collisions of small systems, involving protons or other light nuclei. We describe recent developments aimed at understanding whether, and if so how, systems that produce relatively few particles (orders of magnitude less than in typical heavy ion collisions) and are only one to a few times the size of a proton, can behave like fluids. This involves a deeper understanding of fluid dynamics and its applicability, improvements of our understanding of the initial geometry of the collisions by considering fluctuations of the proton shape, as well as advancements in the calculation of initial state effects within an effective theory of quantum chromodynamics, which can affect the observables that are used to study fluid behavior. We further address open questions and discuss future directions.

Jet Charge: A Flavor Prism for Spin Asymmetries at the Electron-Ion Collider

We propose the jet charge observable as a novel probe of flavor structure in the nucleon spin program at the electron ion collider (EIC) and develop the underlying framework from first principles. We show that jet charge measurements can substantially enhance the sensitivity of spin asymmetries to different partonic flavors in the nucleon. This sensitivity can be further improved by constructing the jet charge using only a subset of hadron species (pions or kaons) in the jet. As an example, we use the Sivers asymmetry in back-to-back electron-jet production at the EIC to show that the jet charge can be a unique tool in constraining the Sivers function for different partonic flavors.

Energetic spin-polarized proton beams from two-stage coherent acceleration in laser-driven plasma

We propose a scheme to overcome the great challenge of polarization loss in spin-polarized ion acceleration. When a petawatt laser pulse penetrates through a compound plasma target consisting of a double layer slab and prepolarized hydrogen halide gas, a strong forward moving quasistatic longitudinal electric field is constructed by the self-generated laser-driven plasma. This field with a varying drift velocity efficiently boosts the prepolarized protons via a two-stage coherent acceleration process. Its merit is not only achieving a highly energetic beam but also eliminating the undesired polarization loss of the accelerated protons. We study the proton dynamics via Hamiltonian analyses, specifically deriving the threshold of triggering the two-stage coherent acceleration. To confirm the theoretical predictions, we perform three-dimensional PIC simulations, where unprecedented proton beams with energy approximating half GeV and polarization ratio ∼ 94% are obtained.

Spin-polarized proton beam generation from gas-jet targets by intense laser pulses

A method of generating spin-polarized proton beams from a gas jet by using a multipetawatt laser is put forward. With currently available techniques of producing prepolarized monatomic gases from photodissociated hydrogen halide molecules and petawatt lasers, proton beams with energy ≳50 MeV and ≈80% polarization are proved to be obtained. Two-stage acceleration and spin dynamics of protons are investigated theoretically and by means of fully self-consistent three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. Our results predict the dependence of the beam polarization on the intensity of the driving laser pulse. Generation of bright energetic polarized proton beams would open a domain of polarization studies with laser driven accelerators and have potential application to enable effective detection in explorations of quantum chromodynamics.

Review of proton and nuclear shape fluctuations at high energy

Determining the inner structure of protons and nuclei in terms of their fundamental constituents has been one of the main tasks of high energy nuclear and particle physics experiments. This quest started as a mapping of the (average) parton densities as a function of longitudinal momentum fraction and resolution scale. Recently, the field has progressed to more differential imaging, where one important development is the description of the event-by-event quantum fluctuations in the wave function of the colliding hadron. In this review, recent developments on the extraction of proton and nuclear transverse geometry with event-by-event fluctuations from collider experiments at high energy is presented. The importance of this fundamentally interesting physics in other collider experiments like in studies of the properties of the quark gluon plasma is also illustrated.

Multigluon Correlations and Evidence of Saturation from Dijet Measurements at an Electron-Ion Collider

We study inclusive and diffractive dijet production in electron-proton and electron-nucleus collisions within the color glass condensate effective field theory. We compute dijet cross sections differentially in both mean dijet transverse momentum P and recoil momentum Δ, as well as the anisotropy in the relative angle between P and Δ. Our results cover a much larger kinematic range than accessible in previous computations performed in the correlation limit approximation, where it is assumed that |P|≫|Δ|. We validate this approximation in its range of applicability and quantify its failure for |P|≲|Δ|. We also predict significant target-dependent deviations from the correlation limit approximation for |P|>|Δ| and |P|≲Q_{s}, which offers a straightforward test of gluon saturation and access to multigluon distributions at a future Electron-Ion Collider.

Recent progress on jet substructure theory

In these proceedings, we review recent theoretical progress on jet substructure at the colliders. Focusing on two observables – jet mass and groomed jet radius, we perform theoretical computations for jets measured in the single inclusive jet production in proton-proton collisions, pp → jet + X. We consider both standard ungroomed jets as well as soft-drop groomed jets. Within the Soft Collinear Effective Theory (SCET), we establish QCD factorization theorems which allow for the joint resummation of several classes of logarithmic corrections to all orders in the strong coupling constant. We present numerical results and compare with the available data from the LHC.