Valence quark-stopping and gluon junction-stopping scenarios in electron-nucleus collisions at the forthcoming Electron-Ion Collider: Which one is correct?

Abstract

In the current literature, two stopping scenarios are being discussed in the context of high-energy collisions: the valence quark scenario and the gluon or baryon junction scenario. In the valence quark-stopping scenario, three valence quarks each contribute one-third of the baryon number within a baryon. Conversely, in the gluon junction-stopping scenario, the gluon junction is responsible for carrying the entire baryon number. At present, there is no consensus regarding which type of stopping scenario is correct. Based on a multi-source thermal model, our investigation indicates that the experimental data analyzed in both previous and present studies suggest that the valence quark-stopping scenario is more suitable for semi-quantitative discussions in high-energy collisions. It is anticipated that this scenario can be further validated through electron-nucleus ($eA$) collisions at the forthcoming Electron-Ion Collider (EIC).