Workshop on Origin of Hadron Mass - Experimental Opportunities and Theoretical Challenges

Asia/Tokyo
Science Knot 2F Conference Room (Hiroshima University)

Science Knot 2F Conference Room

Hiroshima University

Abhay Deshpande (Stony Brook University & BNL), Kenta Shigaki (Hiroshima University), Taku Gunji (Center for Nuclear Study, the University of Tokyo)
Description

UPDATE: 18 excellent invited speakers have been confirmed and more will follow.  Please see the "Invited Speakers" tag for the list.

Understanding the origin of mass in QCD is one of the central goals of modern nuclear physics. Importantly, most of the mass of visible matter does not come from the Higgs mechanism or from the small masses of the up and down quarks. Instead, it emerges dynamically from QCD through quark-gluon interactions, confinement, and spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking.

There is no single experimental technique that directly "measures the origin of mass." Rather, several complementary approaches probe different aspects of the problem. The goal of this workshop is to bring people involved in different approaches together and try to understand the complementarity of different techniques.

Today, the most promising experimental routes to understanding the origin of QCD mass include:

  1. Threshold J/ψJ/ψ production → direct probe of gluonic mass generation and the trace anomaly.

  2. Exclusive electron scattering (DVCS, vector mesons) → access to energy-momentum tensor form factors, pressure, and mass distributions.

  3. Precision DIS at the EIC → determine how quarks and gluons generate the proton's mass, momentum, and structure.

  4. Hadron spectroscopy → reveal how confinement generates hadron masses.

  5. Heavy-ion collisions → study what happens when the mechanisms responsible for mass generation are switched off.

 

Together, these approaches attack the same fundamental question from different angles: how mass emerges from nearly massless quarks and massless gluons through the dynamics of QCD.

Based on this big picture, we host a 4 day workshop. There should be time for discussion after each talk and then a recap or a broader discussion at end of the day.

The registration deadline is Friday, September 18, 2026.

Registration
Participants
    • welcome: Welcome Science Knot 2F Conference Room

      Science Knot 2F Conference Room

      Hiroshima University

    • scientific: Session 1 Science Knot 2F Conference Room

      Science Knot 2F Conference Room

      Hiroshima University

    • 15:00
      coffee break Science Knot 2F Conference Room

      Science Knot 2F Conference Room

      Hiroshima University

    • scientific: Session 2 Science Knot 2F Conference Room

      Science Knot 2F Conference Room

      Hiroshima University

    • 18:30
      welcome reception La Bohème

      La Bohème

    • scientific: Session 3 Science Knot 2F Conference Room

      Science Knot 2F Conference Room

      Hiroshima University

    • 11:30
      lunch break
    • scientific: Session 4 Science Knot 2F Conference Room

      Science Knot 2F Conference Room

      Hiroshima University

    • 15:00
      coffee break Science Knot 2F Conference Room

      Science Knot 2F Conference Room

      Hiroshima University

    • scientific: Session 5 Science Knot 2F Conference Room

      Science Knot 2F Conference Room

      Hiroshima University

    • scientific: Session 6 Science Knot 2F Conference Room

      Science Knot 2F Conference Room

      Hiroshima University

    • 11:30
      lunch break
    • scientific: Session 7 Science Knot 2F Conference Room

      Science Knot 2F Conference Room

      Hiroshima University

    • 15:00
      coffee break Science Knot 2F Conference Room

      Science Knot 2F Conference Room

      Hiroshima University

    • scientific: Session 8 Science Knot 2F Conference Room

      Science Knot 2F Conference Room

      Hiroshima University

    • 19:00
      banquet tbd

      tbd

    • scientific: Session 9 Science Knot 2F Conference Room

      Science Knot 2F Conference Room

      Hiroshima University

    • 11:30
      lunch break
    • scientific: Session 10 Science Knot 2F Conference Room

      Science Knot 2F Conference Room

      Hiroshima University

    • scientific: Closing Science Knot 2F Conference Room

      Science Knot 2F Conference Room

      Hiroshima University