The atomic nucleus is composed of two different kinds of fermions: protons and neutrons. If the protons and neutrons did not interact, the Pauli exclusion principle would force the majority of fermions (usually neutrons) to have a higher average momentum. Our high-energy electron-scattering measurements using (12)C, (27)Al, (56)Fe, and (208)Pb targets show that even in heavy, neutron-rich nuclei, short-range interactions between the fermions form correlated high-momentum neutron-proton pairs. Thus, in neutron-rich nuclei, protons have a greater probability than neutrons to have momentum greater than the Fermi momentum. This finding has implications ranging from nuclear few-body systems to neutron stars and may also be observable experimentally in two-spin-state, ultracold atomic gas systems.

Understanding the origin and dynamics of hadron structure and in turn that of atomic nuclei is a central goal of nuclear physics. This challenge entails the questions of how does the roughly 1 GeV mass-scale that characterizes atomic nuclei appear; why does it have the observed value; and, enigmatically, why are the composite Nambu-Goldstone (NG) bosons in quantum chromodynamics (QCD) abnormally light in comparison? In this perspective, we provide an analysis of the mass budget of the pion and proton in QCD; discuss the special role of the kaon, which lies near the boundary between dominance of strong and Higgs mass-generation mechanisms; and explain the need for a coherent effort in QCD phenomenology and continuum calculations, in exa-scale computing as provided by lattice QCD, and in experiments to make progress in understanding the origins of hadron masses and the distribution of that mass within them. We compare the unique capabilities foreseen at the electron-ion collider (EIC) with those at the hadron-electron ring accelerator (HERA), the arXiv:1907.08218v2 [nucl-ex] Rikutaro Yoshida (ryoshida@jlab.org) INTRODUCTIONAtomic nuclei lie at the core of everything we can see; and at the first level of approximation, their atomic weights are simply the sum of the masses of all the neutrons and protons (nucleons) they contain. Each nucleon has a mass m N ∼ 1 GeV, i.e. approximately 2000-times the electron mass. The Higgs boson produces the latter, but what produces the masses of the neutron and proton? This is the crux: the vast majority of the mass of a nucleon is lodged with the energy needed to hold quarks together inside it; and that is supposed to be explained by QCD, the strong-interaction piece within the Standard Model.QCD is unique. It is a fundamental theory with the capacity to sustain massless elementary degrees-of-freedom, viz. gluons and quarks; yet gluons and quarks are predicted to acquire mass dynamically [1][2][3], and nucleons and almost all other hadrons likewise, so that the only massless systems in QCD are its composite NG bosons [4,5], e.g. pions and kaons. Responsible for binding systems as diverse as atomic nuclei and neutron stars, the energy associated with the gluons and quarks within these Nambu-Goldstone (NG) modes is not readily apparent. This is in sharp and fascinating contrast with all other "everyday" hadronic bound states, viz. systems constituted from up = u, down = d, and/or strange = s quarks, which possess nuclear-size masses far in excess of anything that can directly be tied to the Higgs boson. 1

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