Future Directions in High Energy QCD

RIKEN/RBRC Workshop on "Future Directions in High Energy QCD" The structure and properties of matter have been understood to be governed by Quantum Chromo Dynamics which is the theory of the strong interaction and describes the dynamics of quarks and gluons. In high-energy heavy ion collisions at RHIC, a new state of matter, strongly-interacting Quark gluon plasma, has been discovered. The properties of this new state of matter are now studied at RHIC and LHC. Also the spin structure of the nucleon has been investigated using polarized proton collisions at RHIC and polarized DIS experiments shedding light on the parton helicities in the nucleon and on transverse spin effects. Further progress will be expected using luminosity upgrades and new detectors added to the RHIC experiments. Recently LHC has started the study of QCD at very high energy. Furthermore the understanding of hadronic physics and nuclear structure can be significantly advanced through electron collisions with light to heavy nuclei and polarized nucleons in the eRHIC project which is planned for the future. This new facility will probe the distribution of quarks and gluons inside nuclei of which in particular the gluon distribution is poorly known. This will become increasingly interesting as one reaches high parton densities where gluonic matter is predicted to exhibit novel properties. It also precisely map out the 3D image of the nucleon and its transverse structure as well as measure its helicity structure in so far inaccessible regions. Talks and discussions in the workshop will cover the following topics: - theoretical progress and challenges in heavy-ion physics - theoretical developments in high-energy QCD processes - present status and future challenges of non-perturbative QCD - achievements of QCD-related topics from past and recent experiments - challenges for high-energy QCD experiments at hadron facilities - physics case and opportunities at new QCD facilities with special focus on the role of Japan - how Japanese accelerator communities can contribute on the future EIC project Organizing Committee: Y. Akiba (RIKEN/RBRC), A. Deshpande (Stony Brook/RBRC), Y. Goto (RIKEN/RBRC), T. Hatsuda (Tokyo/RIKEN), Y. Koike (Niigata), Y. Miyachi (Yamagata), I. Nakagawa (RIKEN/RBRC), N. Saito (KEK), R. Seidl(RIKEN/RBRC), H. Torii (CNS, Tokyo)