Predictions for future electron-ion colliders using the Balitsky--Kovchegov equation

TL;DR

This paper provides predictions for various low-x QCD processes at future electron-ion colliders using solutions to the Balitsky-Kovchegov equation, comparing different initial conditions and models to current experimental data.

Contribution

It introduces new initial conditions for the BK equation to model nuclear targets and compares their predictions with existing data and models.

Findings

Different initial conditions lead to distinguishable predictions for photo-nuclear processes.

Future measurements can discriminate between saturation models.

The approach aligns well with HERA and LHC data.

Abstract

This contribution presents the latest predictions for several QCD processes at low-x in the color dipole picture which are of interest for current hadron-hadron and future electron-hadron colliders. The predictions are derived using the solution to the Balitsky-Kovchegov equation for proton and nuclear targets. Two different approaches to the nuclear case are studied: a solution obtained using a newly proposed type of initial condition which represents the initial state of a given nucleus and the solutions based on an initial condition representing a proton coupled to a Glauber-Gribov prescription. The influence from the different energy evolutions of these two approaches are studied in the following photo-nuclear processes: inclusive and diffractive DIS, coherent production of a J/psi meson in ultra-peripheral collisions, and the deeply virtual Compton scattering. By comparison to the available data from HERA and the LHC and to the other models inspired by the Color Glass Condensate framework, it is demonstrated that the future measurements will be useful to discriminate among different approaches to saturation physics. The contribution was presented at the Hot Quarks 2022 - Workshop for young scientists on the physics of ultrarelativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions, Dao House, Colorado, USA, October 11-17 2022.