Electron-Ion Collider: A New Scientific Frontier

Rikutaro Yoshida, Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Laboratory
Wednesday, Feb 01, 4:10 PM - Nuclear Science Seminar
1200 FRIB Laboratory

Abstract:  The understanding of the structure of matter at the level of atoms and molecules is a cornerstone of the technical achievements of the modern civilization; everything from modern medicine to communication infrastructure depend on this knowledge. The current understanding of the internal structure of protons, neutrons and nuclei, however, are at a comparatively primitive level. While we understand something of how quarks and gluons make up these objects, we have very little idea of how they are arranged and how that arrangement leads to the macro-properties of nucleons and nuclei. This lack of understanding has not only been due to experimental limitations, but to the difficulty of the theory of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) that govern quarks and gluons. Advances in the theoretical understanding of QCD in the past decades, however, have lead to a framework that enables the measurement and interpretation of the quark and gluon structure of nucleons and nuclei. With these developments in mind, a new facility called the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) has been proposed to be built in the US in order to investigate the structure of nucleons and nuclei in unprecedented detail. I will discuss the science of EIC as well as the status of the project.