"The onset of gluon saturation at CERN LHC energies and new directions using quantum tomography"

Dr. Daniel Tapia Takaki, University of Kansas


Perturbative QCD predicts that the gluon density in hadrons grows with energy, or equivalently with decreasing Bjorken-x, up to a point where non-linear effects set in to tame this growth, a phenomenon known as gluon saturation. Studies at HERA have shown that the gluon density grows steeply at small x. However, some of the HERA data can equally be described by models with and without gluon saturation. At the CERN LHC it is possible to study photon-induced interactions at unprecedented energies. In this talk, we will present recent results of the energy dependence of the momentum transfer distribution of photoproduced vector mesons off protons. These results provide the first clear indication for the onset of gluon saturation in the proton. In addition, we will discuss theoretical predictions for similar studies using dissociative photoproduction at CERN, RHIC and EIC energies. Finally, we will discuss new directions to study gluon saturation and Quark Gluon Plasma physics using novel ideas inspired from Quantum Information. As an example, we will present the study of the energy dependence of photoproduced dijets using Quantum Tomography.