Heavy ions and parton saturation from RHIC to LHC

TL;DR

This paper reviews gluon saturation phenomena at small Bjorken-x in protons and nuclei, discussing experimental evidence from RHIC and LHC, and exploring future research directions in high-energy nuclear collisions.

Contribution

It provides an overview of experimental signatures of gluon saturation at RHIC and LHC, highlighting recent findings and future prospects in the field.

Findings

Saturation effects observed at RHIC suggest gluon density limits.

LHC measurements extend the kinematic reach for saturation studies.

Future experiments aim to clarify the saturation regime in nuclear matter.

Abstract

The phenomenology of gluon saturation at small parton momentum fraction, Bjorken-x, in the proton and in the nucleus is introduced. The experimentally-accessible kinematic domains at the nucleus-nucleus colliders RHIC and LHC are discussed. Finally, the saturation hints emerging from measurements at RHIC and the perspectives for LHC are described.