Abstract:
Protons and neutrons are the building blocks the observable universe. However, despite much experimental and theoretical effort over the past century we know surprisingly little about the origin of their intrinsic properties. For example, how do the quarks and gluons — discovered in the 1960’s — interact amongst themselves to constitute the “spin" of the proton? How exactly does the proton's mass emerge from those interactions? We don’t fully know yet. Further, current understanding of quark-gluon interactions in Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) — the Standard Model of Strong Interactions — leads to a prediction of a novel state of (saturated) gluonic matter. However its experimental evidence remains elusive. To solve these and other such puzzles in QCD a new collider is being built. In this talk, I will introduce some selective science drivers of the EIC and invite scientists - particularly the early career ones - in the audience to join the effort.
About the Speaker:
Abhay Deshpande is a Distinguished Professor in the department of Physics and Astronomy at Stony Brook University. He also serves as Director of Science for the Electron Ion Collider (EIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) and Director of the Center for Frontiers in Nuclear Science (CFNS). He studies the quark-gluon dynamics in protons and nuclei to probe and understand various aspects of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD). He has led or has been involved in experimental research at various international laboratories in the US, Switzerland and Germany. Abhay graduated from M.Sc. Physics, from IIT Kanpur (1987) and Ph.D. from Yale University (1994).