Improved Constraints on Pion Fragmentation Functions from Simulated Electron-Ion Collider Data

Abstract

We present a quantitative assessment of the anticipated impact of future Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) measurements on the extraction of parton-to-pion fragmentation functions (FFs). Our analysis combines simulated semi-inclusive deep-inelastic scattering (SIDIS) pseudo-data at EIC energies of 45 GeV and 140 GeV with existing single-inclusive electron-positron annihilation (SIA) and SIDIS experimental data. The pion fragmentation functions are determined at next-to-leading-order (NLO) accuracy using a perturbative QCD framework and a neural network parametrization. Uncertainties are rigorously estimated through Monte Carlo sampling, accounting for both experimental errors and variations in input parton distribution functions. Our results demonstrate that incorporating EIC pseudo-data reduces their uncertainties, especially at medium to large momentum fractions ($z$). This improvement is particularly pronounced for the gluon and selected quark FFs, highlighting the substantial role that EIC measurements will play in achieving high-precision extractions of FFs and informing future experimental and theoretical developments in collider physics.