Physics Opportunities with Meson Beams for EIC

TL;DR

This paper emphasizes the need for a new high-quality meson-beam facility to complement electromagnetic data, aiming to significantly advance hadron physics and spectroscopy research.

Contribution

It highlights the critical gaps in current meson-beam data and advocates for constructing a state-of-the-art facility to enable new scientific discoveries.

Findings

Current meson-beam data are outdated or insufficient.

High-statistics meson-beam data are essential for progress.

A new facility would unlock new research opportunities.

Abstract

Over the past two decades, meson photo- and electroproduction data of unprecedented quality and quantity have been measured at electromagnetic facilities worldwide. By contrast, the meson-beam data for the same hadronic final states are mostly outdated and largely of poor quality, or even non-existent, and thus provide inadequate input to help interpret, analyze, and exploit the full potential of the new electromagnetic data. To reap the full benefit of the high-precision electromagnetic data, new high-statistics data from measurements with meson beams, with good angle and energy coverage for a wide range of reactions, are critically needed to advance our knowledge in baryon and meson spectroscopy and other related areas of hadron physics. To address this situation, a state-of-the-art meson-beam facility needs to be constructed. The present letter summarizes unresolved issues in hadron physics and outlines the vast opportunities and advances that only become possible with such a facility.