Diffractive electron-nucleus scattering and ancestry in branching random walks

TL;DR

This paper draws an analogy between diffractive electron-nucleus scattering and branching random walks, providing new predictions for the distribution of diffractive invariant mass relevant for future collider experiments.

Contribution

It establishes a novel analogy linking scattering events to genealogical structures in branching random walks, enabling quantitative predictions for diffractive observables.

Findings

Derived the distribution of diffractive invariant mass

Proposed measurable predictions for future electron-ion colliders

Connected gluon evolution statistics with genealogical tree structures

Abstract

We point out an analogy between diffractive electron-nucleus scattering events, and realizations of one-dimensional branching random walks selected according to the height of the genealogical tree of the particles near their boundaries. This correspondence is made transparent in an event-by-event picture of diffraction emphasizing the statistical properties of gluon evolution, from which new quantitative predictions straightforwardly follow: we are able to determine the distribution of the total invariant mass produced diffractively, which is an interesting observable that can potentially be measured at a future electron-ion collider.