Testing nuclear parton distributions with pA collisions at the LHC

Abstract

Global perturbative QCD analyses, based on large data sets from electron-proton and hadron collider experiments, provide tight constraints on the parton distribution function (PDF) in the proton. The extension of these analyses to nuclear parton distributions (nPDF) has attracted much interest in recent years. nPDFs are needed as benchmarks for the characterization of hot QCD matter in nucleus-nucleus collisions, and attract further interest since they may show novel signatures of non-linear density-dependent QCD evolution. However, it is not known from first principles whether the factorization of long-range phenomena into process-independent parton distribution, which underlies global PDF extractions for the proton, extends to nuclear effects. As a consequence, assessing the reliability of nPDFs for benchmark calculations goes beyond testing the numerical accuracy of their extraction and requires phenomenological tests of the factorization assumption. Here we argue that a proton-nucleus collision program at the LHC would provide a set of measurements allowing for unprecedented tests of the factorization assumption underlying global nPDF fits.

4 pages, 3 figures

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• EPS09 - a New Generation of NLO and LO Nuclear Parton Distribution Functions
• Global analysis of fragmentation functions for pions and kaons and their uncertainties
• Determination of nuclear parton distribution functions and their uncertainties at next-to-leading order
• Centrality Dependence of pi^0 and eta Production at Large Transverse Momentum in sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV d+Au Collisions
• Single Inclusive Hadron Production at RHIC and the LHC from the Color Glass Condensate

Cited by in corpus (21)

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• Proton-Nucleus Collisions at the LHC: Scientific Opportunities and Requirements
• Impact-parameter dependent nuclear parton distribution functions: EPS09s and EKS98s and their applications in nuclear hard processes
• QCD saturation at the LHC: comparisons of models to p+p and A+A data and predictions for p+Pb collisions
• CGC predictions for p+A collisions at the LHC and signature of QCD saturation
• Nuclear modification of high transverse momentum particle production in p+A collisions at RHIC and LHC
• Inclusive Hadron Production in the CERN-LHC Era
• Probing gluon and heavy-quark nuclear PDFs with photon + heavy quark production in pA collisions
• Predictions for p+Pb at 4.4A TeV to Test Initial State Nuclear Shadowing at energies available at the CERN Large Hadron Collider
• Impact of fully coherent energy loss on heavy meson production in pA collisions
• Nuclear PDFs at NLO - status report and review of the EPS09 results
• Fully coherent energy loss effects on light hadron production in pA collisions
• Quenching of light hadron spectra in pA collisions from fully coherent energy loss
• Particle Production in pA Collisions and QCD Saturation
• Azimuthal angle and rapidity dependence of di-hadron correlations in QCD
• Review of Recent Developments in the CGC
• Testing factorization in pA collisions at the LHC
• Testing the CGC in proton-lead collisions at the LHC