NPA Seminar: Salvatore Fazio, Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), “Status and Scientific Prospects of a Future U.S.-Based Electron-Ion Collider”

Event time: 
Thursday, December 19, 2019 - 1:00pm to 2:00pm
Location: 
Wright Lab - Connector (EAL), WLC-245 See map
270 Whitney Avenue
New Haven, CT 06511
Event description: 

The 2015 U.S. Nuclear Physics Long-Range Plan recommended the realization of an elec- tron-ion collider (EIC) as the next large construction project in the United States. A U.S.- based EIC has also been endorsed by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. In their re- port 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 represents 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 measure- ments from the planned broad physics program at the electron-ion collider and the expect- ed impact on our current understanding of the partonic structure of nucleons and nuclei.