Orateur
Prof.
Paul Newman (for the LHeC study group)
(University of Birmingham)
Description
The Large Hadron electron Collider (LHeC) is a proposed facility which will exploit the LHC heavy ion beam for electron-nucleus scattering, using a new electron accelerator. This contribution, which is derived from the draft CERN-ECFA-NuPECC Conceptual Design report (due for release in 2011), addresses the expected physics impact of the LHeC for heavy ion physics. The kinematic coverage at low Bjorken-x extends beyond previous deep inelastic lepton-ion experiments with fixed nuclear targets by nearly four orders of magnitude. It is expected to be comfortably sufficient to reveal the non-linear dynamics which tame the growth of parton densities in order to satisfy the unitarity constraint. The inclusive electron-lead cross section, as well as exclusive and diffractive channels, are explored as means of probing this new region of very high parton densities. The impact of the data on nuclear parton distribution functions and nuclear modifications to fragmentation functions are also explored.
Auteur principal
Prof.
Paul Newman (for the LHeC study group)
(University of Birmingham)
