1202.2641 (Paul Laycock)

QCD and low-x physics at a Large Hadron electron Collider    [PDF]

Paul Laycock

The Large Hadron electron Collider (LHeC) is a proposed facility which will
exploit the new world of energy and intensity offered by the LHC for
electron-proton scattering, through the addition of a new electron accelerator.
This contribution, which is derived from the draft CERN-ECFA-NuPECC Conceptual
Design report (due for release in 2012), addresses the expected impact of the
LHeC precision and extended kinematic range for low Bjorken-x and diffractive
physics, and detailed simulation studies and prospects for high precision QCD
and electroweak fits. Numerous observables which are sensitive to the expected
low-x saturation of the parton densities are explored. These include the
inclusive electron-proton scattering cross section and the related structure
functions $F_2$ and $F_L$, as well as exclusive processes such as
deeply-virtual Compton scattering and quasi-elastic heavy vector meson
production and diffractive virtual photon dissociation. With a hundred times
the luminosity that was achieved at HERA, salient expectations for the LHeC
include the complete determination of all light and heavy quark parton
distributions for the first time, the high precision extraction of the gluon
density, the determination of the strong coupling constant to per-mil accuracy
and the precision study of the running of the electroweak mixing angle.

View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1202.2641