Generalized parton distributions (GPDs) describe the 3-dimensional structure of the nucleon in QCD and provide new information about the internal dynamics of quarks and gluons (energy-momentum tensor, angular momentum). Measurements of GPDs with hard exclusive processes and related probes are an essential element of the EIC science program. While GPD measurements with deeply-virtual Compton scattering (DVCS) have been extensively discussed, the potential of hard exclusive meson production for GPD studies at EIC has not been fully explored so far. Meson production processes can directly probe gluons and quark spin structure in the nucleon, separate quark flavor distributions and strangeness, and reveal the dynamics in diffraction, color transparency, and saturation at small x. Recent theoretical advances and experimental results from HERA, COMPASS, JLab, and LHC, and the proposed program at RHIC, have heightened the interest in meson production and shown the promise and challenges of such measurements. The workshop will assess the potential of exclusive meson production for GPD studies with EIC and discuss the steps toward its realization. Topics include:
- Gluon imaging with heavy vector mesons (φ, J/ψ, Υ)
- Nucleon spin structure with pseudoscalar mesons (π, Κ, η)
- QCD factorization and nonperturbative dynamics in meson production
- Joint DVCS-meson analysis and GPD flavor separation
- Diffraction and quantum fluctuations in vector meson production
- Color transparency and saturation in meson production at small x
- Meson and baryon resonances in hard processes
- Central and forward detection in meson production at EIC
- Simulation tools for meson production
The meeting will bring together experimental and theoretical researchers for informal presentations and in-depth discussions. A particular goal will be to enable future collaborative work on process simulations and physics impact studies.
