eRHIC Design Overview

Abstract

The Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) is being envisioned as the next facility to be constructed by the DOE Nuclear Physics program. Brookhaven National Laboratory is proposing eRHIC, a facility based on the existing RHIC complex as a cost effective realization of the EIC project with a peak luminosity of 10³⁴ cm⁻² sec⁻¹. An electron storage ring with an energy range from 5 to 18 GeV will be added in the existing RHIC tunnel. A spin-transparent rapid-cycling synchrotron (RCS) will serve as a full-energy polarized electron injector. Recent design improvements include reduction of the IR magnet strengths to avoid the necessity for Nb₃Sn magnets, and a novel hadron injection scheme to maximize the integrated luminosity. We will provide an overview of this proposed project and present the current design status.