Opportunities for inclusive diffraction at EIC

Abstract

The possibilities for inclusive diffraction in the Electron Ion Collider, EIC, in the US, are analyzed. We find that thanks to the excellent forward proton tagging, the EIC will be able to access a wider kinematical range of longitudinal momentum fraction and momentum transfer of the leading proton than at HERA. This opens up the possibility to measure subleading diffractive exchanges. The extended t-range would allow the precise extraction of 4-dimensional reduced cross section in diffraction. In addition, the varying beam energy setups at the EIC would allow for precise measurements of the longitudinal diffractive structure function.