Speaker
Description
The 2015 U.S. Nuclear Physics Long-Range Plan recommended the realization of an electron-ion collider (EIC) as the next large construction project in the United States. A U.S.-based EIC has also recently been endorsed by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. In their report released in July 2018 they find the scientific case “compelling, unique, and timely”. With its high luminosity, wide kinematic reach in center-of-mass-energy and high lepton and proton beam polarization, the EIC is an unprecedented opportunity to reach new frontiers in our understanding of the internal dynamic structure of nucleons. This new collider will provide definite answers to the following questions: How are the sea quarks and gluons, and their spins, distributed in space and momentum inside the nucleon? How the nuclear environment modifies these quark and gluon distributions? At what scale the growth in the distribution of gluons saturates? What is the role of the orbital motion of sea quarks and gluons in building up the nucleon spin? This presentation will report on the project’s status and prospects. It will also highlight several key high precision measurements from the planned broad physics program at the electron-ion collider and the expected impact on our current understanding of the partonic structure of nucleons and nuclei.
