Effect of sub-nucleon fluctuations on the DVCS process in proton and nuclear targets at the EIC

Abstract The impact of the sub-nucleon fluctuations on the deeply virtual Compton scattering (DVCS) process at the electron-ion collider (EIC) is investigated considering proton and nuclear targets. Assuming the hot-spot model, we estimate the energy dependence of the coherent and incoherent cross-sections for different values of the photon virtuality and atomic number. Predictions for the t -distributions are also presented. We demonstrate that the sub-nucleon fluctuations in the proton, as described by the hot-spot model, implies a turn-over in the energy dependence of the incoherent cross-section, with the position of the maximum being dependent of the photon virtuality. Our results indicate that the ratio between the coherent and incoherent cross-sections increases with energy, atomic numbers and for smaller values of $$Q^2$$ Q 2 . Moreover, we predict a maximum in the t -distribution of the nuclear incoherent cross-section at a fixed center-of-mass energy, which is dependent on the atomic number and $$Q^2$$ Q 2 .