Heavy Quark Production at an Electron-Ion Collider

[摘要] An Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) with center-of-mass energies √seN ∼ 20-100 GeV and luminosity L ∼ 1034cm-2s-1would offer new opportunities to study heavy quark production in high-energy electron or photon scattering on protons and nuclei. We report about an R&D project exploring the feasibility of direct measurements of nuclear gluon densities at x >∼ 0.1 (gluonic EMC effect, antishadowing) using open charm production at EIC. We describe the charm production rates and angle-momentum distributions at large x and discuss methods of charm reconstruction using next-generation detector capabilities (π/K identification, vertex reconstruction). The results could be used also for other physics applications of heavy quark production at EIC (fragmentation functions, jets, heavy quark propagation in nuclei).

[发布机构] Jefferson Lab, Newport News; VA; 23606, United States^1;Old Dominion University, Norfolk; VA; 23529, United States^2;University of Virginia, Charlottesville; VA; 22904, United States^3;Tübingen University, Tübingen; 72076, Germany^4;Pennsylvania State University, University Park; PA; 16802, United States^5

[关键词] Center-of-mass energies;Direct measurement;Fragmentation functions;Heavy quark productions;High-energy electron;Momentum distributions;Open charm production;Vertex reconstruction