Searching for a universal limit of all nuclear matter: Mining for gluon saturation at colliders
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A major focus of the scientific programs at the future Electron-Ion Collider and the upcoming upgrades to the Large Hadron Collider is the search for and study of a new state of nuclear matter known as the Color Glass Condensate (CGC). In this extreme regime, matter is dominated by an exceptionally dense system of gluons, the particles that bind quarks together inside protons and neutrons. Theoretical predictions from the CGC framework have been compared with experimental data from HERA, RHIC, and the LHC, revealing intriguing hints of this phenomenon, though definitive evidence remains elusive.
In this colloquium, I will provide an overview of the latest theoretical developments in CGC-based calculations and discuss how they can be tested through measurements at current and future particle colliders, with emphasis on the future Electron Ion Collider. Lastly, I will briefly comment on the CGC's interdisciplinary connections with other fields of physics.