Understanding the structure of protons and nuclei and their energy evolution is a central goal of both heavy-ion collisions and the future Electron-Ion Collider (EIC). In this talk, I will first discuss the use of Bayesian inference within the color glass condensate framework to extract proton shape fluctuations from HERA exclusive vector meson production data. Using this input, we employ the JIMWLK evolution to study the geometry of protons and nuclei from HERA to LHC energies. Then, we perform hydrodynamic simulations to quantify various observables by comparing setups with evolved geometry parameters against full JIMWLK evolution. We find some final state observables are sensitive to the JIMWLK evolution. These help us to understand the energy evolution of nuclear geometry.
In electron+nucleus collisions, we observe that nuclear geometric deformations significantly impact diffractive vector meson production, and that multipole deformations at different length scales manifest in distinct regions of transverse momentum transfer. I will also discuss vector meson production in ultra-peripheral collisions and the implications for studying polarized deuteron collisions. Investigating vector meson production in electron-polarized deuteron collisions help to develop the 3D geometry of polarized light nuclei. The hydrodynamic simulations for upcoming polarized deuteron + Pb collisions at LHCb energy will also be discussed.
This talk will demonstrate that future EIC diffractive data can provide direct insights into nuclear structure at small x and its energy evolution and offer complementary constraints on nuclear geometric shapes relevant to heavy-ion collisions.