Session R4: Few-Body Physics at the Electron-Ion Collider

The Electron-Ion Collider -- overview and few-body opportunities

The Electron-Ion Collider (EIC), which received a high recommendation in the long-range plan, is envisioned as the next-generation US facility for exploring the strong interaction (QCD). The program will include mapping the spin- and spatial structure of the quark and gluon sea in the nucleon, understanding the emergence of hadronic matter from color charge, and probing the gluon fields in nuclei. The EIC will provide beams of polarized electrons and light-ion beams, as well as unpolarized heavy ions, and advanced detectors capable of precisely measuring nuclear fragments -- creating new opportunities for exciting few-body physics.   

Experimental Opportunities for Few Body Physics at an Electron Ion Collider

A high energy electron-ion collider (EIC) is proposed as the next major facility in the United States for studying the QCD structure of matter. I will discuss the following key few-body physics topics enabled by an EIC: \begin{itemize} \item Spatial imaging of quarks and gluons in the nucleon via deep virtual exclusive reactions (DVES). Momentum imaging of quarks and gluons via Semi-Inclusive Deep Inelastic Scattering (SIDIS) in both the current and projectile fragmentation regimes. These experiments will span the kinematic range from large $x_\text{Bj}$ where the nucleon can be fruitfully described as a few-body quark system, to low $x_\text{Bj}$, where the structure is dominated by the quark-gluon sea; \item Spectator nucleon tagging of Deep Inelastic Scattering (DIS) in light nuclei and DVES with identification of the nuclear final state are probes of both neutron structure and the quark-gluon structure of nuclear binding; \item Evaporation and projectile fragmentation in DIS on nuclei as a probe of the dynamic generation of mass of a fast quark or gluon as it propagates through the nuclear medium and evolves into a final state hadron. \end{itemize} I will also discuss proposed detectors to implement this program.   

Few-Body Physics at the Electron-Ion Collider

The Electron-Ion Collider(EIC) presents unprecedented new opportunities for research in Few-Body Nuclear Physics. This research has two main aspects: First, the A=2,3 nuclei at relatively small internal momenta can be used as "micro-lab" for testing QCD properties of hadrons, such as polarized partonic distributions, quark-gluon hadronization and nuclear medium modifications. Secondly, the EIC configuration gives unique possibility to probe the elusive repulsive core of the NN interaction by probing its non-nucleonic and hidden color component. The talk will review in detail the above aspects of Few-Body studies at EIC as well as present the development of the baseline theoretical framework of semi-inclusive deep inelastic electron-light-nucleus scattering at collider kinematics.