Nuclear Parton Distributions from Lepton-Nucleus Scattering and the Impact of an Electron-Ion Collider

Abstract

We present a first determination of the nuclear parton distribution functions (nPDF) based on the NNPDF methodology: nNNPDF1.0. This analysis is based on neutral-current deep-inelastic structure function data and is performed up to NNLO in QCD calculations with heavy quark mass effects. For the first time in the NNPDF fits, the ${\chi }^2$ minimization is achieved using stochastic gradient descent with reverse-mode automatic differentiation (backpropagation). We validate the robustness of the fitting methodology through closure tests, assess the perturbative stability of the resulting nPDFs, and compare them with other recent analyses. The nNNPDF1.0 distributions satisfy the boundary condition whereby the NNPDF3.1 proton PDF central values and uncertainties are reproduced at $A=1$, which introduces important constraints particularly for low-$A$ nuclei. We also investigate the information that would be provided by an Electron-Ion Collider (EIC), finding that EIC measurements would significantly constrain the nPDFs down to $x\simeq 5\times 10^{-4}$. Our results represent the first-ever nPDF determination obtained using a Monte Carlo methodology consistent with that of state-of-the-art proton PDF fits, and provide the foundation for a subsequent global nPDF analyses including also proton-nucleus data.

arXiv comment50 pages, 24 figures

References in corpus (38)

• Experimental and Theoretical Challenges in the Search for the Quark Gluon Plasma: The STAR Collaboration's Critical Assessment of the Evidence from RHIC Collisions
• Parton distributions with LHC data
• LHAPDF6: parton density access in the LHC precision era
• PDF4LHC recommendations for LHC Run II
• New parton distribution functions from a global analysis of quantum chromodynamics
• Parton distributions in the LHC era: MMHT 2014 PDFs
• EPPS16: Nuclear parton distributions with LHC data
• nCTEQ15 - Global analysis of nuclear parton distributions with uncertainties in the CTEQ framework
• Parton Distribution Functions, ${\alpha }_s$ and Heavy-Quark Masses for LHC Run II
• APFEL: A PDF Evolution Library with QED corrections
• Determination of nuclear parton distribution functions and their uncertainties at next-to-leading order
• Thermal Dileptons at LHC
• Heavy-Quark Kinetics in the QGP at LHC
• Nuclear parton distributions at next to leading order
• Heavy Ion Collisions at the LHC - Last Call for Predictions
• Heavy quarks in deep-inelastic scattering
• A posteriori inclusion of parton density functions in NLO QCD final-state calculations at hadron colliders: The APPLGRID Project
• Global Analysis of Nuclear Parton Distributions
• Parton distributions and lattice QCD calculations: a community white paper
• The Structure of the Proton in the LHC Precision Era
• A Re-Evaluation of the nuclear Structure Function Ratios for D, He, Li, C and Ca
• Parton distributions with small-x resummation: evidence for BFKL dynamics in HERA data
• Neural Network Parametrization of Deep-Inelastic Structure Functions
• Parton Distribution Benchmarking with LHC Data
• Shadowing in Inelastic Scattering of Muons on Carbon, Calcium and Lead at Low XBj
• Gluon Shadowing in Heavy-Flavor Production at the LHC
• Double Asymptotic Scaling at HERA
• Neural network determination of parton distributions: the nonsinglet case
• Neutrino Telescopes as QCD Microscopes
• aMCfast: automation of fast NLO computations for PDF fits
• Precision determination of the small-$x$ gluon from charm production at LHCb
• APFELgrid: a high performance tool for parton density determinations
• Unbiased determination of the proton structure function F_2^p with faithful uncertainty estimation
• Nuclear Structure Functions at a Future Electron-Ion Collider
• The impact of new neutrino DIS and Drell-Yan data on large-x parton distributions
• Vector boson production in proton-lead and lead-lead collisions at the LHC and its impact on nCTEQ15 PDFs
• Direct photon production and PDF fits reloaded
• MCgrid: projecting cross section calculations on grids

Cited by in corpus (57)

• The Large Hadron-Electron Collider at the HL-LHC
• Detecting and Studying High-Energy Collider Neutrinos with FASER at the LHC
• The ALICE experiment: a journey through QCD
• Heavy quarks and jets as probes of the QGP
• Parton Distributions in Nucleons and Nuclei
• Further developments of a multi-phase transport model for relativistic nuclear collisions
• Snowmass 2021 whitepaper: Proton structure at the precision frontier
• Hadron structure in high-energy collisions
• Exploring QCD matter in extreme conditions with Machine Learning
• Precision Studies of QCD in the Low Energy Domain of the EIC
• Event Generators for High-Energy Physics Experiments
• nNNPDF2.0: Quark Flavor Separation in Nuclei from LHC Data
• Predicting parton energy loss in small collision systems
• Pion and kaon fragmentation functions at next-to-next-to-leading order
• Complete predictions for high-energy neutrino propagation in matter
• Open-source QCD analysis of nuclear parton distribution functions at NLO and NNLO
• A determination of unpolarised pion fragmentation functions using semi-inclusive deep-inelastic-scattering data: MAPFF1.0
• Neutral Current Neutrino Interactions at FASER$\nu$
• Impact of heavy quark and quarkonium data on nuclear gluon PDFs
• Neutrino Structure Functions from GeV to EeV Energies
• NNLO nuclear parton distribution functions with electroweak-boson production data from the LHC
• Impact of LHC vector boson production in heavy ion collisions on strange PDFs
• A QCD analysis of LHCb D-meson data in p+Pb collisions
• Nuclear suppression from coherent $J/\psi$ photoproduction at the Large Hadron Collider
• Nuclear parton distribution functions with uncertainties in a general mass variable flavor number scheme
• Phenomenology of NNLO jet production at the LHC and its impact on parton distributions
• nCTEQ15HIX -- Extending nPDF Analyses into the High-$x$, Low $Q^2$ Region
• Self-consistent determination of proton and nuclear PDFs at the Electron Ion Collider
• Precise predictions for multi-$\mathrm{TeV}$ and $\mathrm{PeV}$ energy neutrino scattering rates
• Nuclear-modification factor of charged hadrons at forward and backward rapidity in $p$$+$Al and $p$$+$Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{{}_{NN}}}=200$ GeV
• Deuterium scattering experiments in CTEQ global QCD analyses: a comparative investigation
• Impact of fully coherent energy loss on heavy meson production in pA collisions
• Charting the low-loss region in Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy with machine learning
• High-luminosity Large Hadron Collider with laser-cooled isoscalar ion beams
• Neural Network QCD analysis of charged hadron Fragmentation Functions in the presence of SIDIS data
• Radial profile of bottom quarks in jets in high-energy nuclear collisions
• Three-dimensional imaging in nuclei
• Shadowing in inelastic nucleon-nucleon cross section?
• Target mass corrections in lepton--nucleus DIS: theory and applications to nuclear PDFs
• Study of Drell-Yan dimuon production in proton-lead collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=$ 8.16 TeV
• Probing impact-parameter dependent nuclear parton densities from double parton scatterings in heavy-ion collisions
• Measurement of muon pairs produced via $\gamma \gamma$ scattering in non-ultraperipheral Pb+Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{{}_{\mathrm{NN}}}}=5.02$ TeV with the ATLAS detector
• Role of nuclear gluon distribution on particle production in heavy ion collisions
• Impact of Inclusive Electron Ion Collider Data on Collinear Parton Distributions
• Light-nuclei gluons from dijet production in proton-oxygen collisions
• Fully coherent energy loss effects on light hadron production in pA collisions
• Gluonic Probe for the Short Range Correlation in Nucleus
• Thermal radiation and inclusive production in the KLN model for ion-ion collisions
• Proton-PDF uncertainties in extracting nuclear PDFs from $W^{\pm }$ production in p+Pb collisions
• Neutrino Electromagnetic Properties and the Weak Mixing Angle at the LHC Forward Physics Facility
• Next-to-leading order QCD predictions for dijet photoproduction in lepton-nucleus scattering at the future EIC and at possible LHeC, HE-LHeC, and FCC facilities
• Determination of $K_S^0$ Fragmentation Functions including BESIII Measurements and using Neural Networks
• Impact of scale, nuclear PDF and temperature variations on the interpretation of medium-modified jet production data from the LHC
• Impact of inclusive hadron production data on nuclear gluon PDFs
• Atomic mass, Bjorken variable and scale dependence of quark transport coefficient in Drell-Yan process for proton incident on nucleus
• The Forward Physics Facility at the High-Luminosity LHC
• Constraints of the Low-x Structure of Protons and Nuclei