  The high-luminosity high-energy Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) to be built at
Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) will provide a clean environment to study
several fundamental questions in the high energy and nuclear physics fields. A
high granularity and low material budget vertex and tracking detector is
required to provide precise measurements of primary and displaced vertex and
track reconstruction with good momentum and spatial resolutions. The reference
design of the EIC project detector at the first Interaction Point (IP), which
was selected from three submitted EIC detector proposals, enables a series of
high precision heavy flavor measurements. Based on the EIC project detector
reference design, the newly formed ePIC collaboration is developing the
technical design for the EIC project detector towards its construction and
operation. The reference design of the EIC vertex and tracking detector
consists of the Monolithic Active Pixel Sensor (MAPS) based silicon vertex and
tracking subsystem, the Micro-Pattern Gas Detector (MPGD) based gas tracking
subsystem and the AC-Coupled Low Gain Avalanche Diode (AC-LGAD) based silicon
outer tracker, and it has the track reconstruction capability in the
pseudorapidity region of -3.5 to 3.5 with full azimuthal coverage. Further
detector geometry optimization with a new magnet and technology down selection
are underway by the ePIC collaboration. The latest ePIC vertex and tracking
detector geometry and its performance evaluated in simulation will be
presented. Details of the EIC vertex and tracking detector R$\&$D, which
include the proposed detector technologies, prototype sensor characterization
and detector mechanical design will be discussed as well.
