Physics of Ultra-Peripheral Nuclear Collisions

The cross sections for the production of two-pions in ultraperipheral ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions, calculated in the impact parameter Equivalent Photon Approximation (EPA), are presented. Differential distributions in impact parameter, dipion invariant mass, single pion and dipion rapidity, pion transverse momentum and pion pseudorapidity are shown. The $\gamma \gamma \to \pi^+ \pi^-$ subprocess constitutes a background to the $A A \to A \rho^0 (\to \pi^+ \pi^-) A$...

Due to coherence, there are strong electromagnetic fields of short duration in very peripheral collisions. They give rise to photon-photon and photon-nucleus collisions with high flux up to an invariant mass region hitherto unexplored experimentally. After a general survey photon-photon luminosities in relativistic heavy ion collisions are discussed. Special care is taken to include the effects of strong interactions and nuclear size. Then photon-photon physics at various inv...

Ultra-peripheral collisions (UPC) are events characterised by large impact parameters between the two projectiles, larger than the sum of their radii. In UPCs, the protons and ions accelerated by the LHC do not interact via the strong interaction and can be regarded as sources of quasireal photons. Using the Run 2 data, the ALICE Collaboration has carried out various measurements of different final-state systems, such as exclusive four pion photoproduction as well as photopro...

We present a summary of recent photoproduction results in ultra peripheral relativistic heavy ions collisions with STAR. These collisions have impact parameters larger then twice the nuclear radius; the nuclei do not physically collide, but interact via long-range electromagnetic fields. We observe exclusive $\rho^0$ production as well as $AuAu\to Au^*Au^* \rho^0$ with accompanying mutual nuclear excitation at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200$ GeV. We report the $\rho^0$ production cross s...

Ultra-peripheral heavy ion collisions involve long range electromagnetic interactions at impact parameters larger than twice the nuclear radius, where no nucleon-nucleon collisions occur. The first observation of coherent rho^0 production with and without accompanying nuclear breakup, AuAu->Au*Au*rho^0 and AuAu->Au Au rho^0 respectively, and the observation of e+e- pair production AuAu->Au*Au*e+e- are presented by the STAR collaboration. The transverse momentum spectra are pe...

We present recent STAR results on photoproduction in ultra-peripheral relativistic heavy ion collisions. In these collisions the impact parameter of the beam particles is larger than the sum of their nuclear radii, so that they interact via their long-range Coulomb fields. STAR has measured the production of $\rho^0(770)$ mesons in exclusive reactions as well as in processes with mutual nuclear excitation of the beam particles. We present results for the $\rho^0$ production c...

The strong electromagnetic fields associated with ultra-relativistic protons and nuclei correspond to an equivalent flux of photons. At the future Large Hadron Collider at CERN, the corresponding photon-nucleon center of mass energies will be higher than at any existing accelerator. The experimental and theoretical aspects of particle production in electromagnetic interactions at hadron colliders are reviewed.

Under certain running conditions, the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) can be considered as a photon-photon collider. Indeed, in proton-proton, proton-ion, ion-ion collisions, when incoming particles pass very close to each other in very peripheral collisions, the incoming protons or ions remain almost intact and continue their path along the beam axis. Then, only the electromagnetic (EM) fields of these ultra-relativistic charged particles (protons or ions) interact to leave...

At the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory and at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, particles will be produced in coherent and diffractive nuclear interactions. In extremely peripheral nuclear collisions (b$>$2R), coherent interactions occur at very high rates and are dominated by photon-Pomeron or photon-meson processes. In these reactions, the photon and the Pomeron/meson from the electromagnetic and nuclear fields couple coherent...

Peripheral collisions of relativistic heavy ions uniquely probe many aspects of QED. Examples include $e^+e^-$ pair production and nuclear excitation in strong fields. After discussing these reactions, I will draw parallels between $\gamma\to e^+e^-$ and $\gamma\to q\bar q$ and consider partly hadronic reactions. The scattered $q\bar q$ pairs are a prolific source of vector mesons, which demonstrate many quantum effects. The two ions are a two-source interferometer, demonstra...