Electron-Ion Physics with the LHeC

TL;DR

The paper discusses the potential of the LHeC to advance electron-ion physics by improving nuclear parton distribution fits and exploring small-x physics and hadron production in heavy-ion collisions.

Contribution

It evaluates how LHeC measurements could enhance understanding of nuclear PDFs and other aspects of heavy-ion physics.

Findings

Projected improvements in nuclear parton distribution fits.

Potential insights into small-x physics.

Enhanced understanding of hadron production with nuclear targets.

Abstract

The Large Hadron Electron Collider (LHeC) project is the proposal to use the existing LHC proton/ion beams and construct a new electron beam line to perform high-energy electron-proton/ion collisions. In this talk, we consider some of the physics topics that could be studied in the electron-ion mode. In particular, we estimate how much the current nuclear parton distribution fits could be improved with the deeply inelastic scattering measurements at the LHeC by including pseudodata into a global analysis. In addition, we discuss briefly other topics that would help to better understand some aspects of heavy-ion collisions, namely small-$x$ physics and hadron production with a nuclear target.