A
Statement of Task
The committee will assess the scientific justification for a U.S. domestic electron ion collider facility, taking into account current international plans and existing domestic facility infrastructure. In preparing its report, the committee will address the role that such a facility could play in the future of nuclear physics, considering the field broadly, but placing emphasis on its potential scientific impact on quantum chromodynamics.
In particular, the committee will address the following questions:
- What is the merit and significance of the science that could be addressed by an electron ion collider facility and what is its importance in the overall context of research in nuclear physics and the physical sciences in general?
- What are the capabilities of other facilities, existing and planned, domestic and abroad, to address the science opportunities afforded by an electron ion collider? What unique scientific role could be played by a domestic electron ion collider facility that is complementary to existing and planned facilities at home and elsewhere?
- What are the benefits to U.S. leadership in nuclear physics if a domestic electron ion collider were constructed?
- What are the benefits to other fields of science and to society of establishing such a facility in the United States?