Probing Nucleons And Nuclei In High Energy Collisions

This book contains proceedings of the 7-week INT program dedicated to the physics of the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC), the world's first polarized electron-nucleon (ep) and electron-nucleus (eA) collider to be constructed in the United States. The 2015 NSAC Long Range Plan recommended EIC as the 'highest priority for new facility construction following the completion of FRIB'. The primary goal of the EIC is to establish precise multi-dimensional imaging of quarks and gluons inside nucleons and nuclei. This includes (i) understanding the spatial and momentum space structure of the nucleon through the studies of TMDs (transverse-momentum-dependent parton distributions), GPD (generalized parton distributions) and the Wigner distribution; (ii) determining the partonic origin of the nucleon spin; (iii) exploring the new quantum chromodynamics (QCD) frontier of ultra-strong gluon fields, with the potential to seal the discovery of a new form of dense gluon matter predicted to exist in all nuclei and nucleons at small Bjorken x — the parton saturation.The program brought together both theorists and experimentalists from Jefferson Lab (JLab), Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) along with the national and international nuclear physics communities to assess and advance the EIC physics.

This book contains proceedings of the 7-week INT program dedicated to the physics of the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC), the world's first polarized electron-nucleon (ep) and electron-nucleus (eA) collider to be constructed in the United States. The 2015 NSAC Long Range Plan recommended EIC as the "highest priority for new facility construction following the completion of FRIB". The primary goal of the EIC is to establish precise multi-dimensional imaging of quarks and gluons inside nucleons and nuclei. This includes (i) understanding the spatial and momentum space structure of the nucleon through the studies of TMDs (transverse-momentum-dependent parton distributions), GPD (generalized parton distributions) and the Wigner distribution; (ii) determining the partonic origin of the nucleon spin; (iii) exploring the new quantum chromodynamics (QCD) frontier of ultra-strong gluon fields, with the potential to seal the discovery of a new form of dense gluon matter predicted to exist in all nuclei and nucleons at small Bjorken x -- the parton saturation. The program brought together both theorists and experimentalists from Jefferson Lab (JLab), Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) along with the national and international nuclear physics communities to assess and advance the EIC physics.

Understanding of protons and neutrons, or "nucleons"â€"the building blocks of atomic nucleiâ€"has advanced dramatically, both theoretically and experimentally, in the past half century. A central goal of modern nuclear physics is to understand the structure of the proton and neutron directly from the dynamics of their quarks and gluons governed by the theory of their interactions, quantum chromodynamics (QCD), and how nuclear interactions between protons and neutrons emerge from these dynamics. With deeper understanding of the quark-gluon structure of matter, scientists are poised to reach a deeper picture of these building blocks, and atomic nuclei themselves, as collective many-body systems with new emergent behavior. The development of a U.S. domestic electron-ion collider (EIC) facility has the potential to answer questions that are central to completing an understanding of atoms and integral to the agenda of nuclear physics today. This study assesses the merits and significance of the science that could be addressed by an EIC, and its importance to nuclear physics in particular and to the physical sciences in general. It evaluates the significance of the science that would be enabled by the construction of an EIC, its benefits to U.S. leadership in nuclear physics, and the benefits to other fields of science of a U.S.-based EIC.

Written primarily for researchers and graduate students who are new in this emerging field, this book develops the necessary tools so that readers can follow the latest advances in this subject. Readers are first guided to examine the basic informations on nucleon-nucleon collisions and the use of the nucleus as an arena to study the interaction of one nucleon with another. A good survey of the relation between nucleon-nucleon and nucleus-nucleus collisions provides the proper comparison to study phenomena involving the more exotic quark-gluon plasma. Properties of the quark-gluon plasma and signatures for its detection are discussed to aid future searches and exploration for this exotic matter. Recent experimental findings are summarised.

Dramatic progress has been made in all branches of physics since the National Research Council's 1986 decadal survey of the field. The Physics in a New Era series explores these advances and looks ahead to future goals. The series includes assessments of the major subfields and reports on several smaller subfields, and preparation has begun on an overview volume on the unity of physics, its relationships to other fields, and its contributions to national needs. Nuclear Physics is the latest volume of the series. The book describes current activity in understanding nuclear structure and symmetries, the behavior of matter at extreme densities, the role of nuclear physics in astrophysics and cosmology, and the instrumentation and facilities used by the field. It makes recommendations on the resources needed for experimental and theoretical advances in the coming decade.

Contents: Secondary beams of rare isotopes; Nucleus-nucleus scattering at high energies; Sizes and energies of exotic nuclei; Break-up reactions and momentum distributions; Borromean nuclei; Coulomb excitation; Coulomb excitation of exotic nuclei; Elastic and inelastic scattering; Pion production; Tests of fundamental interactions; Nuclear astrophysics; Fusion reactions; Formation of heavy and superheavy elements; Subject index.

The present text grew out of a number of lecture courses for advanced under graduate and new graduate students in nuclear physics. They were given at summer schools in Leuven, Melbourne, and at study weeks for Dutch grad uate students which aimed to emphasize fundamental and topical aspects of nuclear physics. On occasion, part of the present text was presented to stu dents from a much wider field than just nuclear physics and also within a number of general physics colloquia, where, in addition to nuclear physicists, physicists from many other fields were present. In this respect, the intention is to present, in an amply illustrated form, the key quest ions that arise in nuclear physics. At the same time we try to show why a better understanding of the atomic nucleus is not only important in itself, but also yields essential insights into the many connections to other fields of physics. We thus concen trate on the unifying themes rather than addressing in great detail particular subfields of nuclear physics. The present project does not aim to be another comprehensive textbook on nuclear physics: Many of the detailed technical arguments that enter into the picture are not developed here as they would be in a more standard textbook. Instead they are presented using analogies, quite often with simple pictures and arguments that try to convey the general line of thinking and working in nuclear physics.

Papers of the June 1989 meeting in Beijing by the China Center of Advanced Science and Technology. This small book covers nucleus- nucleus collisions, states of the vacuum, and highly relativistic heavy ions in the experimental realm. Theoretical papers deal with quark-gluon plasma, and relativistic heavy ion collisions. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR