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HK: Physik der Hadronen und Kerne
HK 43: Physik mit schweren Ionen IV
HK 43.6: Group Report
Wednesday, March 24, 1999, 17:00–17:30, D
Two Photon Physics in Relativistic Heavy Ion Collisions — •K. Hencken1, G. Baur2, H. Meier1, P. Stagnoli1, and D. Trautmann1 — 1Universität Basel — 2Forschungszentrum Jülich
Due to coherence, there are very strong electromagnetic fields of short duration in peripheral relativistic heavy ion collisions. They give rise to photon-photon and photon-nucleus collisions with high flux up to an invariant mass region hitherto unexplored experimentally. We discuss the photon-photon luminosities that can be reached in relativistic heavy ion collisions and the physics potential [1,2]. The region of several GeV, relevant for RHIC is dominated by QCD phenomena (meson production). Invariant masses of up to 100 GeV can be reached at LHC, opening the potential for the search for new physics. Photonuclear reactions are also of interest extending the possibilities of HERA to higher energies and to complex nuclei. Higher order effects in electron-positron pair production are studied [3]. We discuss the use of lepton-pair production as a possible luminosity monitor and bremsstrahlung emitted from these pairs as a possible photon-background.
[1] G. Baur, K. Hencken and D. Trautmann, Topical Review, J. Phys. G24 (1998) 1657.
[2] G. Baur, K. Hencken and D. Trautmann, invited talk in Proceedings of the Lund workshop on photon interactions and the photon structure, Lund, September 10-13, 1998, edited by G. Jarlskog and T. Sjostrand.
[3] K. Hencken, D. Trautmann and G. Baur, submitted to PRC, 1998.