Probing Quark-Gluon Structure of Matter with e-p and e-A Reactions

Conference · Tue Nov 01 00:00:00 EDT 2011

OSTI ID:1041533

Chen, Jian-Ping

Understanding the strong interaction (QCD) in the truly strong ('non-perturbative') region remains a major challenge in modern physics. Nucleon and nuclei provide natural laboratories to study the strong interaction. The quark-gluon structure of the nucleon and nuclei are important by themselves since they are the main (>99%) part of the visible world. With electroweak interaction well-understood, e-p and e-A are clean means to probe the nucleon and nuclear structure and to study the strong interaction (QCD). Inclusive Deep-Inelastic Scattering (DIS) experiments have provided us with the most extensive information on the unpolarized and longitudinally-polarized parton (quark and gluon) distributions (PDFs). It has becoming clear that transverse spin and transverse structure (both transverse spatial structure via generalized parton distributions (GPDs) and transverse momentum structure via transverse- momentum-dependent distributions (TMDs)) study are crucial for a more complete understanding of the nucleon structure and the dynamics of the strong interaction(QCD). The transverse spin, GPDs and TMDs have been the subjects of increasingly intense theoretical and experimental study recently. With 12 GeV energy upgrade, Jefferson Lab (JLab) will provide the most precise multi-dimensional map of the TMDs and GPDs in the valence quark region through Semi-Inclusive DIS (SIDIS) and Deep-Exclusive experiments, providing a 3-d partonic picture of the nucleon in momentum and spatial spaces. The precision information on TMDs and GPDs will provide access to the quark orbital angular momentum and its correlation with the quark and the nucleon spins. The planned future Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) will enable a precision study of the TMDs and GPDs of the sea quarks and gluons, in addition to completing the study in the valence region. The EIC will also open a new window to study the role of gluons in nuclei.

• Research Organization: Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (TJNAF), Newport News, VA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC)
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-06OR23177
• OSTI ID: 1041533
• Report Number(s): JLAB-PHY-11-1520; DOE/OR/23177-2175; TRN: US1202675
• Resource Relation: Conference: International School for High-Energy Nuclear Collisions (SCHOOLNP2011) ,Huazhong (China) ,31 Oct - 5 Nov 2011
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS
GLUONS
NUCLEAR STRUCTURE
NUCLEI
NUCLEONS
ORBITAL ANGULAR MOMENTUM
PHYSICS
QUANTUM CHROMODYNAMICS
QUARKS
SCATTERING
SPIN
STRONG INTERACTIONS
TRANSVERSE MOMENTUM
VALENCE