First global next-to-leading order determination of diffractive parton distribution functions and their uncertainties within the {\tt xFitter} framework

We present {\tt GKG18-DPDFs}, a next-to-leading order (NLO) QCD analysis of diffractive parton distribution functions (diffractive PDFs) and their uncertainties. This is the first global set of diffractive PDFs determined within the {\tt xFitter} framework. This analysis is motivated by all available and most up-to-date data on inclusive diffractive deep inelastic scattering (diffractive DIS). Heavy quark contributions are considered within the framework of the Thorne-Roberts (TR) general mass variable flavor number scheme (GM-VFNS). We form a mutually consistent set of diffractive PDFs due to the inclusion of high-precision data from H1/ZEUS combined inclusive diffractive cross sections me…

Next-to-leading order perturbative QCD predictions for exclusive J/ψ photoproduction in oxygen-oxygen and lead-lead collisions at energies available at the CERN Large Hadron Collider

We present predictions for the cross sections of coherent J/ψ photoproduction in lead-lead and oxygen-oxygen ultraperipheral collisions (UPCs) as a function of the J/ψ rapidity at the LHC in the framework of collinear factorization at next-to-leading order (NLO) in perturbative QCD. Taking generalized parton distribution functions in their forward limit and using the EPPS21, nNNPDF3.0, and nCTEQ15WZSIH nuclear parton distribution functions, we update our recent results for Pb-Pb collisions, make detailed predictions for O-O collisions for several beam energy configurations, and examine the ratio of O-O and Pb-Pb UPC cross sections. We show that the latter observable allows one to significan…

Nuclear Shadowing in Exclusive Processes

Nucleon dissociation and incoherent $J/\psi$ photoproduction on nuclei in ion ultraperipheral collisions at the CERN Large Hadron Collider

Using the general notion of cross section fluctuations in hadron--nucleus scattering at high energies, we derive an expression for the cross section of incoherent $J/\psi$ photoproduction on heavy nuclei $d\sigma_{\gamma A \to J/\psi Y}/dt$, which includes both elastic $d\sigma_{\gamma p \to J/\psi p}/dt$ and proton-dissociation $d\sigma_{\gamma p \to J/\psi Y}/dt$ photoproduction on target nucleons. We find that with good accuracy, $d\sigma_{\gamma A \to J/\psi Y}/dt$ can be expressed as a product of the sum of the $d\sigma_{\gamma p \to J/\psi p}/dt$ and $d\sigma_{\gamma p \to J/\psi Y}/dt$ cross sections, which have been measured at HERA, and the common nuclear shadowing factor, which is…

The Large Hadron–Electron Collider at the HL-LHC

The Large Hadron-Electron Collider (LHeC) is designed to move the field of deep inelastic scattering (DIS) to the energy and intensity frontier of particle physics. Exploiting energy-recovery technology, it collides a novel, intense electron beam with a proton or ion beam from the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC). The accelerator and interaction region are designed for concurrent electron-proton and proton-proton operations. This report represents an update to the LHeC's conceptual design report (CDR), published in 2012. It comprises new results on the parton structure of the proton and heavier nuclei, QCD dynamics, and electroweak and top-quark physics. It is shown how the LH…

Inclusive dijet photoproduction in ultraperipheral heavy ion collisions at the CERN Large Hadron Collider in next-to-leading order QCD

We compute the cross section of inclusive dijet photoproduction in ultraperipheral Pb-Pb collisions at the CERN Large Hadron Collider using next-to-leading order perturbative QCD. We demonstrate that our theoretical calculations provide a good description of various kinematic distributions measured by the ATLAS Collaboration. We find that the calculated dijet photoproduction cross section is sensitive to nuclear modifications of parton distribution functions (PDFs) at the level of 10% to 20%. Hence, this process can be used to reduce uncertainties in the determination of these nuclear PDFs, whose current magnitude is comparable to the size of the calculated nuclear modifications of the dije…

Photoproduction of light vector mesons in Xe–Xe ultraperipheral collisions at the LHC and the nuclear density of Xe-129

We make predictions for cross sections of $\rho$ and $\phi$ vector meson photoproduction in ultraperipheral Xe-Xe collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=5.44$ TeV. Analyzing the momentum transfer distribution of $\rho$ mesons in this process, we explore the feasibility of extracting the nuclear density of $^{129}$Xe, which is needed in searches for dark matter with Xenon-based detectors.

Exclusive J/ψ photoproduction in ultraperipheral Pb+Pb collisions at the CERN Large Hadron Collider calculated at next-to-leading order perturbative QCD

We present the first next-to-leading-order (NLO) perturbative QCD (pQCD) study of rapidity-differential cross sections of coherent exclusive photoproduction of J/ψ mesons in heavy-ion ultraperipheral collisions (UPCs) at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC), dσ/dy(Pb+Pb→Pb+J/ψ+Pb). For this, we account for the photon-nucleon NLO cross sections at the forward limit, the t dependence using a standard nuclear form factor, and the photon fluxes of the colliding nuclei. Approximating the generalized parton distributions with their forward-limit parton distribution functions (PDFs), we quantify the NLO contributions in the cross sections, show that the real part of the amplitude and quark-PDF con…

Exclusive heavy vector meson photoproduction on nuclei in NLO perturbative QCD

We make predictions for the cross section of coherent $J/\psi$ photoproduction in Pb-Pb and O-O ultraperipheral collisions (UPCs) at the LHC as a function of the $J/\psi$ rapidity $y$ in the framework of collinear factorization and next-to-leading order (NLO) perturbative QCD. We quantify the strong scale dependence and significant uncertainties due to nuclear PDFs and show that our approach provides a reasonable description of the LHC data on coherent $J/\psi$ photoproduction in Pb-Pb UPCs. We demonstrate that these uncertainties are reduced by approximately a factor of 10 in the scaled ratio of the O-O and Pb-Pb UPC cross sections. Our analysis indicates the dominance of the quark contrib…

Electron Ion Collider: The Next QCD Frontier: Understanding the glue that binds us all

International audience; This White Paper presents the science case of an Electron-Ion Collider (EIC), focused on the structure and interactions of gluon-dominated matter, with the intent to articulate it to the broader nuclear science community. It was commissioned by the managements of Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) and Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLab) with the objective of presenting a summary of scientific opportunities and goals of the EIC as a follow-up to the 2007 NSAC Long Range plan. This document is a culmination of a community-wide effort in nuclear science following a series of workshops on EIC physics over the past decades and, in particular, the focus…

Report from Working Group 5: Future physics opportunities for high-density QCD at the LHC with heavy-ion and proton beams

The future opportunities for high-density QCD studies with ion and proton beams at the LHC are presented. Four major scientific goals are identified: the characterisation of the macroscopic long wavelength Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) properties with unprecedented precision, the investigation of the microscopic parton dynamics underlying QGP properties, the development of a unified picture of particle production and QCD dynamics from small (pp) to large (nucleus--nucleus) systems, the exploration of parton densities in nuclei in a broad (x, Q2) kinematic range and the search for the possible onset of parton saturation. In order to address these scientific goals, high-luminosity Pb-Pb and p-Pb p…

Numerical evaluation of the nonlinear Gribov-Levin-Ryskin-Mueller-Qiu evolution equations for nuclear parton distribution functions

We numerically study for the first time the nonlinear GLR-MQ evolution equations for nuclear parton distribution function (nPDFs) to next-to-leading order accuracy and quantify the impact of gluon recombination at small $x$. Using the nCTEQ15 nPDFs as input, we confirm the importance of the nonlinear corrections for small $x \lesssim 10^{-3}$, whose magnitude increases with a decrease of $x$ and an increase of the atomic number $A$. We find that at $x=10^{-5}$ and for heavy nuclei, after the upward evolution from $Q_0=2$ GeV to $Q=10$ GeV, the quark singlet $\Omega(x,Q^2)$ and the gluon $G(x,Q^2)$ distributions become reduced by $9-15$%, respectively. The relative effect is much stronger fo…

Nucleon dissociation and incoherent J/ψ photoproduction on nuclei in ion ultraperipheral collisions at the CERN Large Hadron Collider

Using the general notion of cross section fluctuations in hadron-nucleus scattering at high energies, we derive an expression for the cross section of incoherent $J/\ensuremath{\psi}$ photoproduction on heavy nuclei $d{\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{\ensuremath{\gamma}A\ensuremath{\rightarrow}J/\ensuremath{\psi}Y}/dt$, which includes both elastic $d{\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{\ensuremath{\gamma}p\ensuremath{\rightarrow}J/\ensuremath{\psi}p}/dt$ and proton-dissociation $d{\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{\ensuremath{\gamma}p\ensuremath{\rightarrow}J/\ensuremath{\psi}Y}/dt$ photoproduction on target nucleons. We find that, with good accuracy, $d{\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{\ensuremath{\gamma}A\ensuremath{\rightarrow}J/\ens…

Inclusive and diffractive dijet photoproduction at the Electron-Ion Collider in NLO QCD

In the framework of collinear factorization and next-to-leading order (NLO) perturbative QCD, we make predictions for inclusive and diffractive dijet photoproduction in electron-proton and electron-nucleus scattering in the EIC kinematics. We establish kinematic ranges in the ${\bar p}_T$, ${\bar \eta}$, $x_A^{\rm obs}$ and $x_{\gamma}^{\rm obs}$ variables, quantify sensitivity to small-$x$ nuclear PDFs, and analyze various scenarios of factorization breaking in the case of diffractive scattering.

Inclusive dijet photoproduction in ultraperipheral heavy-ion collisions at the CERN LHC in next-to-leading order QCD

We compute the cross section of inclusive dijet photoproduction in ultraperipheral Pb-Pb collisions at the LHC using next-to-leading order perturbative QCD. We demonstrate that our theoretical calculations provide a good description of various kinematic distributions measured by the ATLAS collaboration. We find that the calculated dijet photoproduction cross section is sensitive to nuclear modifications of parton distribution functions (PDFs) at the level of 10 to 20%. Hence, this process can be used to reduce uncertainties in the determination of these nuclear PDFs, whose current magnitude is comparable to the size of the calculated nuclear modifications of the dijet photoproduction cross …