Physics of Ultra-Peripheral Nuclear Collisions
Moving highly-charged ions carry strong electromagnetic fields which act as a field of photons. In collisions at large impact parameters, hadronic interactions are not possible, and the ions interact through photon-ion and photon-photon collisions known as ultra-peripheral collisions (UPC). Hadron colliders like the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), the Tevatron and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) produce photonuclear and two-photon interactions at luminosities and energies beyond that accessible elsewhere; the LHC will reach a {gamma}p energy ten times that of the Hadron-Electron Ring Accelerator (HERA). Reactions as diverse as the production of anti-hydrogen, photoproduction of the {rho}{sup 0}, transmutation of lead into bismuth and excitation of collective nuclear resonances have already been studied. At the LHC, UPCs can study many types of ''new physics''.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Director. Office of Science. Office of NuclearPhysics. Contracts DE-AC03-76SF00098 and DE-FG02-04ER41338
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC02-05CH11231
- OSTI ID:
- 875742
- Report Number(s):
- LBNL-57018; R&D Project: NRNC; BnR: KB0201022; TRN: US0600761
- Journal Information:
- Annual Review of Nuclear and Particle Science, Vol. 55; Related Information: Journal Publication Date: 2005
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Photoproduction at RHIC and the LHC
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