Nuclear Fragmentation at the Future Electron-Ion Collider

TL;DR

This paper explores nuclear fragmentation processes at the upcoming Electron-Ion Collider, comparing them with ultraperipheral collisions at the LHC, revealing significant differences in reaction mechanisms and fragment yields.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed comparison of nuclear fragmentation at the EIC with LHC UPCs, highlighting differences in cross sections and fragmentation patterns.

Findings

EIC fragmentation cross sections are about three orders of magnitude smaller than LHC UPCs.

Uranium fragmentation at LHC shows a double-peaked mass spectrum from fission.

EIC fragmentation mainly involves neutron evaporation with fewer fission fragments.

Abstract

We investigate aspects of low-energy nuclear reactions that could be explored at the forthcoming Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory and compare them with analogous measurements performed in ultraperipheral collisions (UPCs) at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. The estimated fragmentation cross sections at the EIC are roughly three orders of magnitude smaller than those observed at the LHC. At the LHC, uranium nucleus fragmentation exhibits a distinctive double-peaked mass spectrum arising from fission processes, whereas at the EIC, the breakup pattern is mainly characterized by neutron evaporation and a vastly reduced yield of fission fragments, about four orders of magnitude fewer events in comparison.