The Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) with accompanying detectors is a unique project in the world, approved for implementation at Brookhaven National Laboratory in the USA (see
DOE statement,
BNL Newsroom). The project is led jointly by
BNL and
JLAB. The accelerator complex will provide head-on collisions of polarized electrons with polarized protons or heavy ions (up to gold). The planned measurements will address fundamental questions of QCD, among others will allow for a definitive understanding of the origin of the proton's mass (the Higgs field is responsible only for about 1% of its mass), as well as for the measurement of the 3D structure of the proton, including an understanding of the mystery of the origin of the proton spin. Electron-ion collisions will allow also to understand modifications in the structure of nucleons residing in atomic nuclei. The EIC will unlock the secrets of the strongest force in Nature.
The EIC Group at FPACS plans to join the project already at the stage of detector construction to make leading contributions to building the far forward apparatus in the lepton hemisphere. These detectors will be used for the luminosity calculation and tagging of photoproduction events. Precise luminosity measurement is both crucial to achieve physics goals of the project and very challenging due to foreseen beam conditions.
