ePIC Early Science Report
Nuclear Experiment
2026-08-05 v1 High Energy Physics - Experiment
Abstract
This Early Science Report from the ePIC Collaboration outlines the compelling physics program achievable during the first years of operation of the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC), prior to the establishment of the full design luminosity and energy range. The analyses are based on realistic early-running beam configurations and detailed Geant4 ePIC detector simulations, hit digitization and data reconstruction. The projected studies from the physics working groups of ePIC span inclusive, semi-inclusive, exclusive, diffractive and tagging, as well as jet and heavy flavor measurements in both electron-proton and electron-ion collisions. Even before the collider reaches its full design performance, these measurements will constrain parton distribution functions in nucleons and nuclei, access transverse-momentum-dependent and spin-dependent observables, probe gluon dynamics in nuclei, and initiate a program of imaging of quarks and gluons. Each measurement is directly connected to the core science pillars of the EIC, identified in the 2018 report by the National Academy of Sciences: understanding the origin of the nucleon mass, unraveling the spin structure of the nucleon, and exploring the emergent properties of dense gluonic matter. The results presented here provide examples that demonstrate that the early years of EIC running with ePIC will deliver novel world-leading insights into Quantum Chromodynamics. In addition, the early science program will establish measurement and analysis methodologies that will pave the way to the subsequent full EIC physics program.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2608.05377,
title = {ePIC Early Science Report},
author = {D. Abbott and N. Abdelrahman and S. Abhijit and I. Abualrob and R. B. Achari and J. Adam and L. Adamczyk and K. Adkins and A. Affolder and K. Agarwal and J. Agarwala and N. Agrawal and C. A. Aidala and W. Akers and A. Al-bataineh and S. N. Alam and M. Alekseev and P. R. Altieri and J. -S. Alvarado Gallenao and S. B. L. Amar and R. Ammendola and I. Amos Cali and G. An and D. Anderson and E. Anderssen and V. Andrieux and G. Andronico and P. Antonioli and N. Apadula and D. Arkhipkin and W. Armstrong and M. Arratia and S. Arrigo and J. Arrington and M. Asai and A. Asaturyan and E. -C. Aschenauer and C. Ayerbe Gayoso and B. Azmoun and J. Bae and Y. Bae and X. Bai and V. Bailey and F. Barbosa and F. Barile and K. Barish and M. Bashkanov and S. Bathe and M. Battaglieri and A. Baty and A. Bazilevsky and T. D. Beattie and B. Beauchamp and Y. Bedfer and N. K. Behera and F. Bellini and R. Bellwied and H. Ben Hannan and M. Benettoni and M. Benoit and V. Berdnikov and J. Bernauer and H. 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journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2608.05377},
year = {2026}
}