Understanding how quarks and gluons behave in the nuclear environment is an important focus of modern nuclear physics. Recent measurements have provided an improved understanding of how quark and gluon densities are altered in heavy nuclei. It has also become possible to make multi-dimensional pictures of the nucleus, exploring how these alterations are distributed within heavy nuclei. The modifications are naturally expected to be largest in the core of a nucleus and smaller near its periphery; this variation can change the effective shape of the nucleus. Experiments have also started to explore the transverse momentum distribution of the partons in the nuclei, and, by using incoherent photoproduction as a probe, measure event-by-event fluctuations in nucleon and nuclei parton densities. This Review explores recent progress in measurements of nuclear structure at high energy, emphasizing these multi-dimensional pictures. We also discuss how a future electron–ion collider with high luminosity and centre-of-mass energy will make exquisitely detailed images of partons in a nucleus.

了解夸克和胶子在核环境中的行为是现代核物理的重要重点。最近的测量结果使人们对重核中夸克和胶子密度的变化方式有了更好的了解。制作核的多维图片，探索这些变化如何在重核中分布，也成为可能。自然地，预期修饰将在核的核心中最大，而在其外围附近较小。这种变化可以改变细胞核的有效形状。实验也已开始探索核中各子的横向动量分布，并通过使用非相干光产生作为探针来测量核子和核子中各子密度的逐事件波动。这篇综述探讨了高能核结构测量的最新进展，并着重介绍了这些多维图片。我们还将讨论未来的具有高发光度和质心能量的电子离子对撞机将如何在原子核中绘制出精细的精细图像。