Speaker
Description
We present a comprehensive study on the exclusive production of electron $e^+e^-$ and $\mu^+\mu^-$ pairs in electron-proton $(ep)$ collisions at the EIC. Exclusive dilepton production via photon-photon fusion serves as a pristine channel to probe the underlying production mechanisms, test quantum electrodynamics (QED) in high-energy regimes, and perform unique measurements of the proton electromagnetic form-factors. Using a Monte Carlo event generator Grape integrated with the ePIC detector simulation framework, we obtain the cross-sections, kinematic distributions, and acceptance thresholds for both channels.
A critical component of this work focuses on the development and optimization of Particle Identification (PID) strategies tailored for light leptons. Disentangling electrons and muons from the high-flux hadron background (particularly pions) is paramount to preserving the purity of these exclusive signals. We discuss the performance of the EIC tracking and calorimetry systems in achieving high-efficiency lepton separation.