Search for baryon junctions in e+A collisions at the Electron Ion Collider

TL;DR

This paper proposes experimental measurements at the Electron Ion Collider to investigate the existence of baryon junctions, a non-perturbative gluon configuration hypothesized to carry baryon number in nucleons.

Contribution

It introduces specific experimental strategies to test the baryon junction hypothesis through various collision measurements at the EIC.

Findings

Potential to determine the mechanism of baryon number transport.

Insights into the gluonic structure related to baryon number.

Guidance for future experimental investigations at the EIC.

Abstract

Constituent quarks in a nucleon are the essential elements in the standard ``quark model" associated with the electric charge, spin, mass, and baryon number of a nucleon. Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) describes nucleon as a composite object containing current quarks (valence quarks and sea (anti-)quarks) and gluons. These subatomic elements and their interactions are known to contribute in complex ways to the overall nucleon spin and mass. In the early development of QCD theory in the 1970s, an alternative hypothesis postulated that the baryon number might manifest itself through a non-perturbative configuration of gluon fields forming a Y-shaped topology known as the gluon junction. In this work, we propose to test such hypothesis by measuring (i) the Regge intercept of the net-baryon distributions for $e$+($p$)Au collisions, (ii) baryon and charge transport in the isobaric ratio between $e$+Ru and $e$+Zr collisions, and (iii) target flavor dependence of proton and antiproton yields at large rapidity, transported from the hydrogen and deuterium targets in $e+p$(d) collisions. Our study indicates that these measurements at the EIC can help determine what carries the baryon number.