Global analysis of nuclear PDFs - latest developments

Abstract

In this review talk I discuss the latest developments in the DGLAP-based global analysis of nuclear parton distribution functions (nPDFs), focusing on the recent EPS09, nCTEQ and DSSZ global fits. I also briefly review the recent analysis for assigning a spatial dependence to the globally analysed nPDFs, resulting in the new sets EPS09s and EKS98s ("s" for spatial). With these, one can now compute nuclear hard-process cross sections and estimate their nPDF-originating uncertainties in different centrality classes for the first time consistently with the global nPDF fits.

Comments: Plenary review talk given in The 5th International Conference on Hard and Electromagnetic Probes of High Energy Nuclear Collisions (Hard Probes 2012), 27 May - 1 June, 2012, Cagliari, Italy. 8 pages, to appear in the Proc. of the meeting