Dissertation: Quark and gluon content of nuclei with physical quantities (Tevio)
As a result of deep inelastic scattering, the target nucleus breaks apart, and hadrons, particles composed of quarks, are produced. Existing models can then be used to deduce what kinds of parton distributions existed inside the nucleus.
- In order to interpret the measurements from accelerator experiments, conducted for example at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), it is important to know what kinds of structures existed inside the nuclei before the collision, explains the Doctoral Researcher Mirja Tevio from Ģֱ.
Improving the theoretical predictions
Theoretical predictions for deep inelastic scattering measurements are typically produced using parton distribution functions. However, these are model-dependent, unphysical quantities whose values are obtained by fitting to experimental data. In her dissertation, Tevio instead avoids using these parton distribution functions and replaces them with measurable quantities.
- The Electron-Ion Collider (EIC), currently under construction in Brookhaven, United States, and expected to be completed around 2030, aims to measure deep inelastic scattering. It is therefore now highly relevant to improve the precision of theoretical predictions, says Tevio.
The gluon acts as the mediator particle in the strong interaction, which binds partons into hadrons. One of the goals of the EIC is also to study gluon saturation. In her dissertation, Tevio also produced estimates of the experimental precision required to observe gluon saturation in deep inelastic scattering experiments.
- Gluon saturation has not yet been directly observed, and detecting it requires very high energies, explains Tevio.
Gluon saturation refers to a phenomenon in which the gluon density of a highly energetic nucleus reaches its theoretical limit. At that point, the nucleus can be thought of as consisting solely of gluons, whose total number remains constant.
M.Sc. Mirja Tevio will defend her doctoral dissertation “Partonic structure in a physical basis” on Friday 23.5.2025 at 12:00 noon in lecture hall FYS1 on Ylistönrinne. Opponent is professor Ingo Schienbein (Universite Grenoble Alpes) and opponent is professor Tuomas Lappi (Ģֱ). The language of the dissertation is English.
The dissertation “Partonic structure in a physical basis” is available in the JYX digital archive:
