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Observation of pi+ pi- pi+pi- photoproduction in ultraperipheral heavy-ion collisons at sqrt sNN = 200 GeV at the STAR Detector

Journal Article · · Physical Review C
We present a measurement of {pi}{sup +}{pi}{sup -}{pi}{sup +}{pi}{sup -} photonuclear production in ultraperipheral Au-Au collisions at {radical}s{sub NN} = 200 GeV from the STAR experiment. The {pi}{sup +}{pi}{sup -}{pi}{sup +}{pi}{sup -} final states are observed at low transverse momentum and are accompanied by mutual nuclear excitation of the beam particles. The strong enhancement of the production cross section at low transverse momentum is consistent with coherent photoproduction. The {pi}{sup +}{pi}{sup -}{pi}{sup +}{pi}{sup -} invariant mass spectrum of the coherent events exhibits a broad peak around 1540 {+-} 40 MeV/c{sup 2} with a width of 570 {+-} 60 MeV/c{sup 2}, in agreement with the photoproduction data for the {rho}{sup 0}(1700). We do not observe a corresponding peak in the {pi}{sup +}{pi}{sup -} final state and measure an upper limit for the ratio of the branching fractions of the {rho}{sup 0}(1700) to {pi}{sup +}{pi}{sup -} and {pi}{sup +}{pi}{sup -}{pi}{sup +}{pi}{sup -} of 2.5% at 90% confidence level. The ratio of {rho}{sup 0}(1700) and {rho}{sup 0}(770) coherent production cross sections is measured to be 13.4 {+-} 0.8{sub stat.}{+-}4.4{sub syst.}%.
Research Organization:
Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider
Sponsoring Organization:
Doe - Office Of Science
DOE Contract Number:
AC02-98CH10886
OSTI ID:
989155
Report Number(s):
BNL--93801-2010-JA; KB0202012
Journal Information:
Physical Review C, Journal Name: Physical Review C Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 81; ISSN 0556-2813
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English