No Colloquium on 02/09. We will resume the regular series soon.
Jan26
Canceled - 01/26
Abhay Deshpande, Brookhaven National Laboratory
Monday, January 26, 2026
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4:30 p.m.–5:30 p.m. PT
Abstract:
A high-luminosity high-energy polarized electron-hadron collider will be built at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) in partnership with Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (TJNAF) and will start operation in the middle of the next decade. The EIC will be capable of colliding polarized & unpolarized electrons on polarized protons/light nuclei and on unpolarized heavy nuclei over a Center of Mass energy range between 20-100 GeV (upgradable to 140 GeV). The EIC will reuse the existing injector complex, the tunnel, and one of the hadron rings of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). When operational, it will be the first polarized electron-proton/ion and the first electron-nucleus collider in the world. An unprecedented scientific program, focusing on understanding the role of “gluons” in QCD described by US The National Academy of Sciences as “ Compelling, Fundamental and Timely“ is planned. It will include 1) understanding the origin of proton’s (and neutron’s) spin — something SLAC pioneered around the turn of the last century, 2) the origins of hadronic mass and 3) the study of a novel state of gluon matter (color glass condensate) predicted - but yet to be experimentally established. An experimental collaboration (ePIC) is finalizing the design of a new detector, with significant international contributions. In this talk I will present the science, status and the promise of the EIC.
About Abhay Deshpande
Bio: Abhay Deshpande is a State University of New York (SUNY) Distinguished Professor in the department of Physics and Astronomy at Stony Brook University and the founding director of the Center for Frontiers in Nuclear Science (CFNS). Currently he serves as the Associate Laboratory Director for Nuclear and Particle Physics and EIC science director at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Abhay is an experimental nuclear and particle physicist and has studied the quark-gluon dynamics in protons and nuclei to explore and enhance our understanding of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), the theory of strong interactions within the Standard Model (SM). He also uses polarized precision electroweak probes to explore the limits of the SM of physics and search for possible effects beyond it. Abhay has been involved in and/or led experiments at BNL (Upton, NY, USA), CERN (Geneva, Switzerland), DESY (Hamburg, Germany), Jefferson Laboratory (Newport News, Virginia, USA)) and PSI (Zurich, Switzerland). He is one of the original proponents of the Electron Ion Collider (EIC) and has been a leader in developing the EIC science, making the case for it, initiating, and organizing the EIC Users Community and detector collaborations around this project.
Abhay received his master’s degree in physics from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT Kanpur, India) and Ph.D. in experimental high-energy physics from Yale University in 1994. After spending time at CERN and DESY as a postdoctoral fellow and research scientist, he became a Fellow of the RIKEN BNL Research Center at BNL. He moved to Stony Brook University and was promoted to Professor in 2013. He was appointed State University of New York’s highest professorship “Distinguished Professor” in 2021. Abhay is a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS) and American Association for Advancement of Science (AAAS). He is a recipient of a Special Prize by the President of RIKEN for his research leadership in the studies of proton spin at RHIC (2015), SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Research & Innovation (2018), IIT Kanpur’s Distinguished Alumnus Award (2021). Abhay was inducted into NY State’s Distinguished Academy (2021). Abhay has served on US DOE/NSF’s Nuclear Science Advisory Committee (NSAC) and advisory boards of various national and international institutions, projects and research centers. Abhay is a life member of the American Association for Advancement of Science (AAAS) and American Physical Society (APS).
Audience:
In case you're interested
Upcoming events
No Colloquium. We will resume the regular series on the following Monday.
Feb16
