Eur. Phys. J. A (2014) 50: 189
https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/i2014-14189-3

Regular Article - Experimental Physics

Determination of electron-nucleus collision geometry with forward neutrons

¹ Key Laboratory of Quark and Lepton Physics (MOE) and Institute of Particle Physics, Central China Normal University, 430079, Wuhan, China
² Physics Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, 11973, Upton, NY, USA

^* e-mail: liangzhphy@gmail.com

Received: 30 July 2014
Revised: 2 December 2014
Accepted: 18 December 2014
Published online: 29 December 2014

Abstract

There are a large number of physics programs one can explore in electron-nucleus collisions at a future electron-ion collider. Collision geometry is very important in these studies, while the measurement for an event-by-event geometric control is rarely discussed in the prior deep-inelastic scattering experiments off a nucleus. This paper seeks to provide some detailed studies on the potential of tagging collision geometries through forward neutron multiplicity measurements with a zero degree calorimeter. This type of geometry handle, if achieved, can be extremely beneficial in constraining nuclear effects for the electron-nucleus program at an electron-ion collider.