Hadron Structure Studies with a Fixed-Target Experiment at the LHC - AFTER@LHC

Conference · Wed Feb 01 04:00:00 EST 2017

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1985873· OSTI ID:1985873

Signori, Andrea ^[1]

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1. Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (TJNAF), Newport News, VA (United States)

I will illustrate some of the opportunities for hadron structure studies at a future multi-purpose fixed-target experiment at the LHC. The proton beams at the LHC allow for the most energetic fixed-target experiments ever performed, opening new kinematic windows on hadron and nuclear physics which integrate the knowledge available from collider experiments (in particular RHIC and EIC).?? I will discuss how AFTER@LHC will shed light on the proton-spin puzzle by investigating Transverse-Momentum Dependent parton distribution functions (TMDs). Unpolarized proton-proton collisions allow to access unpolarized quark and gluon TMDs, the Boer-Mulders quark TMD and the distribution of linearly polarized gluons in unpolarized protons. Looking at polarized targets, single-transverse-spin asymmetries (STSAs) for processes such as Drell-Yan lepton-pair and quarkonium production will allow measurements of polarized TMDs for quarks and gluons, such as the Sivers functions. Moreover, I will show how, thanks to the boost of the fixed target mode, the acceptance of detectors like LHCb and ALICE in the fixed-target mode allows to analyze processes which are sensitive to the intrinsic charm content of the proton. In particular, I will address some aspects of D meson, charm + photon as well as J/psi-pair production.

• Research Organization: Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, Newport News, VA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Nuclear Physics (NP)
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-06OR23177
• OSTI ID: 1985873
• Report Number(s): JLAB-THY-17-2680; DOE/OR/23177-6456
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English