Dr. Mohammad Hattawy
Old Dominion University
Abstract:
Everything around us is made of protons and neutrons, collectively called nucleons. Yet these particles are themselves complex systems made of quarks and gluons held together by the strong force. These constituents are permanently confined and cannot be observed directly, so how can we learn what is happening inside matter at this fundamental level?
In this talk, I will explain how high-energy electron beams serve as powerful microscopes that allow us to “see” inside nucleons and nuclei. I will introduce modern techniques such as deeply virtual Compton scattering and recoil tagging, which make it possible to create three-dimensional images of quarks inside nucleons and even inside whole nuclei. I will highlight key experimental results from Jefferson Lab, including the first measurements that show how the internal structure of a proton changes when it is inside a nucleus.
Finally, I will describe how these methods will be extended at the next major facility in nuclear physics, the Electron–Ion Collider, where we will be able to produce the most detailed images ever of the building blocks of matter and explore how the visible universe emerges from the fundamental laws of quantum chromodynamics.