The Emerging QCD Frontier: The Electron Ion Collider
arXiv:0806.0048 · doi:10.1088/0954-3899/35/10/104041
Abstract
The self-interactions of gluons determine all the unique features of QCD and lead to a dominant abundance of gluons inside matter already at moderate . Despite their dominant role, the properties of gluons remain largely unexplored. Tantalizing hints of saturated gluon densities have been found in +p collisions at HERA, and in d+Au and Au+Au collisions at RHIC. Saturation physics will have a profound influence on heavy-ion collisions at the LHC. But unveiling the collective behavior of dense assemblies of gluons under conditions where their self-interactions dominate will require an Electron-Ion Collider (EIC): a new facility with capabilities well beyond those In this paper I outline the compelling physics case for +A collisions at an EIC and discuss briefly the status of machine design concepts. of any existing accelerator.
11 pages, 9 figures, prepared for 20th International Conference on Ultra-Relativistic Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions: Quark Matter 2008 (QM2008), Jaipur, India, 4-10 Feb. 2008