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Experimental demonstration of accelerating a beam with a large transverse emittance ratio in the relativistic heavy ion collider for the electron-ion collider

Y. Luo*, B. Lepore, K. Mernick, T. Shrey, M. Blaskiewicz, C. Montag, G. Robert-Demolaize, and D. Xu

  • *Contact author: yluo@bnl.gov
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Phys. Rev. Accel. Beams 29, L021001 – Published 17 February, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/7t62-5fvx

Abstract

The electron-ion collider (EIC), to be constructed at Brookhaven National Laboratory, will collide polarized high-energy electron beams with hadron beams, achieving luminosities of up to 1.0×1034  cm−2 s−1 in the center-of-mass energy range of 20–140 GeV. To reach such high luminosity, the EIC will employ small, flat beams at the interaction point. According to the design of the EIC hadron storage ring (HSR), hadron beams with a large transverse emittance ratio of 11:1 will be generated at the injection energy using an electron cooling technique and then accelerated to high energies for collisions. Accelerating hadron beams with such a large emittance ratio had never been demonstrated elsewhere—until our recent beam experiment at the relativistic heavy ion collider (RHIC). In this experiment, we successfully generated a large transverse emittance ratio of 13:1 with a gold-ion beam at 31 GeV/nucleon using stochastic cooling. We then accelerated this beam, with a transverse emittance ratio of 11:1, from 31 to 100 GeV/nucleon. Thanks to RHIC’s high-performance orbit, tune, and decoupling feedback systems, the large emittance ratio was well maintained throughout the 5-min-long acceleration process. This experiment fully validated the EIC/HSR design assumptions—namely, that large-emittance-ratio hadron beams can be generated at injection energy and then accelerated to high energies for collisions.

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Phys. Rev. Accel. Beams 29, L021001– Published 17 February, 2026
  • Received 22 August 2025
  • Accepted 8 December 2025
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