The Barrel Imaging Calorimeter for the Electron-Ion Collider

The Barrel Imaging Calorimeter (BIC) of the ePIC detector is designed to meet the stringent performance requirements posed by the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC), a next-generation facility aimed at unlocking the structure and dynamics of gluons in nucleons and nuclei. The BIC must deliver excellent electron identification in the presence of background pions, as well as precise energy and position measurements of photons for key processes such as Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering and neutral pion reconstruction.

In this talk, I will present an overview of the BIC concept, which integrates a high-resolution scintillating-fiber-lead sampling calorimeter with low-power AstroPix monolithic active pixel sensors for imaging. I will summarize the physics-driven design choices, the expected performance based on simulation studies benchmarked to EIC physics requirements, and the current status of component integration and testing. Highlights from recent beam tests will be shown, along with a look ahead at the development roadmap and collaborative effort supporting this critical subsystem for the EIC.