Saturation in nuclei

TL;DR

This paper explores gluon saturation in nuclei, linking initial conditions in heavy ion collisions with deep inelastic scattering observables, emphasizing the role of classical gluon fields and Wilson line correlators.

Contribution

It highlights the connection between gluon saturation phenomena and measurable DIS observables, emphasizing the classical gluon field framework in nuclei.

Findings

Classical gluon fields dominate small x nuclear wavefunctions.

Dipole cross section links initial conditions to DIS observables.

Gluon saturation impacts heavy ion collision initial states.

Abstract

This talk discusses some recent studies of gluon saturation in nuclei. We stress the connection between the initial condition in heavy ion collisions and observables in deep inelastic scattering (DIS). The dominant degree of freedom in the small x nuclear wavefunction is a nonperturbatively strong classical gluon field, which determines the initial condition for the glasma fields in the initial stages of a heavy ion collision. A correlator of Wilson lines from the same classical fields, known as the dipole cross section, can be used to compute many inclusive and exclusive observables in DIS.