ECT* Doctoral Training Programme 2012
April 30 - June 15

The 3-dimensional nucleon structure

The theoretical study and the experimental exploration of the internal structure of protons and neutrons (nucleons) have entered a new phase. Over the past 40 years an understanding of nucleons in terms of elementary constituents (partons, i.e. quarks and gluons) has gradually and successfully emerged. Much information has been obtained about the nucleon in terms of its “one-dimensional” parton structure, relevant when partons are assumed to move co-linearly with their parent nucleon, and encoded in the so-called parton distribution functions (PDFs). In the last years theoretical breakthroughs have extended this simple picture, leading to new concepts, like the “Generalized Parton Distributions” (GPDs) and the “Transverse Momentum Dependent parton distributions” (TMDs). These concepts help to address long-standing questions concerning the motion of quarks and gluons inside the nucleon, their orbital motion, their spin and their spatial distribution. Dedicated experiments, either running or proposed, and a related intense theoretical activity have made, and keep making, enormous progress towards a true 3-dimensional unraveling of the nucleon structure.

The lectures at the DTG aim at leading the students, starting from basic QCD, to master the ideas and the experimental techniques necessary to perform forefront research in the field of the nucleon structure. After theoretical introductions to the  new concepts and the related QCD formalism, experimental techniques will be discussed, followed by lectures on the phenomenological analysis of data and modeling of the new functions. Running and future experiments will also be discussed at length.

Students will have ample opportunity to interact with the lecturers outside the formal lecture period and in addition ECT* staff will be on hand to assist in tutorials and problem sessions. Students will have access to the computing facilities of ECT* and will be given the time and opportunity to continue working on their own Ph.D. project.

The program will extend over seven weeks in the spring of 2012. It is aimed at students who are in the process of obtaining a Ph.D. in an area related to the theme of the DTP. Enquiries can be addressed to: ECT* staff Serena degli Avancini (serenada[at]ectstar[dot]eu) and for scientific matters to Mauro Anselmino (mauro.anselmino@to.infn.it).