Signatures of baryon junctions in semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering

TL;DR

This paper discusses the concept of baryon junctions arising from gauge invariance, their impact on baryon stopping in high-energy collisions, and proposes tests for their signatures in semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering experiments.

Contribution

It introduces the idea of baryon junctions in the context of deep inelastic scattering and outlines experimental strategies to detect their signatures at Jefferson Laboratory and the Electron Ion Collider.

Findings

Baryon junctions influence baryon stopping at high energies.

Recent STAR data supports the existence of baryon junction effects.

Proposed experimental tests for baryon junction signatures.

Abstract

Local gauge invariance of the baryon wave function leads to the emergence of a baryon junction, where three (or $N$, in $SU(N)$ gauge theory) string operators merge. The existence of baryon junction dramatically affects the dynamics of baryon stopping at high energies, and the corresponding predictions are supported by the recent data from STAR Collaboration at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. Here we outline the ways in which the baryon junctions can be tested in semi-inclusive deep inelasttic scattering at Jefferson Laboratory and the future Electron Ion Collider.