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Probing nuclear structure with the Balitsky-Kovchegov equation in full impact-parameter dependence

J. Cepila, M. Matas, and M. Vaculciak*

  • *Contact author: matej.vaculciak@fjfi.cvut.cz
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Phys. Rev. C 113, 055204 – Published 7 May, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/mdrn-42dv

Abstract

Building on the newly available solution of the Balitsky-Kovchegov (BK) equation with the full impact-parameter dependence, we extend the study of parton evolution from proton to nuclear targets. Since a key part of the scientific program for future experimental facilities such as the EIC is to study gluon dynamics and shed new light on the phenomenon of parton saturation, we present predictions for key processes, such as deep-inelastic scattering or the diffractive production of vector mesons, on a variety of nuclear targets. Besides the standard BK equation, we employ its linearized version to identify a promising channel to search for gluon saturation in the nuclear collisions. Furthermore, we implement a tetrahedral model of oxygen to search for deviations from the standard, isotropic, Woods-Saxon approach. In addition to the future colliders, the presented results are also of interest for the current studies of nuclear vector-meson production at the LHC.

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Phys. Rev. C 113, 055204– Published 7 May, 2026
  • Received 3 September 2025
  • Accepted 14 April 2026
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP3.

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