INPP Seminar - Barak Schmookler, University of Houston

Imaging the Structure of Visible Matter: From Fixed-Target Scattering to the Electron-Ion Collider Understanding how the observed properties of visible matter emerge from the interactions of quarks and gluons is a fundamental question in nuclear physics. Fixed-target lepton-scattering experiments at Jefferson Lab and elsewhere, together with polarized proton-proton collider experiments at RHIC, have provided increasingly detailed information about the three-dimensional and spin-dependent structure of the nucleon, particularly in the valence-quark region. The future Electron-Ion Collider (EIC), with its variable center-of-mass energy, high luminosity, polarized beams, and range of nuclear targets, will provide unprecedented access to the gluon and sea-quark structure of nucleons and nuclei. Its realization will open a new era of precision QCD measurements. In this talk, I will review how measurements from fixed-target and collider experiments have shaped our current understanding of nucleon structure, highlighting the complementary information provided by different experimental approaches and kinematic regimes. I will then discuss the rich physics opportunities at the EIC, including the three-dimensional structure of nucleons and nuclei, the role of gluons and sea quarks, and the emergence of nucleon and nuclear properties from QCD. Finally, I will discuss the detector technologies and experimental techniques required to realize these precision measurements.