8 research outputs found
The electromagnetic interaction of ultrarelativistic heavy ions
The validity of a delta-function approximation for the electromagnetic
interaction of relativistic heavy ions is investigated. The production of e+e-
pairs, with electron capture, is used as a test of the approximation.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure
Bound-free pair production in ultra-relativistic ion collisions at the LHC collider: Analytic approach to the total and differential cross sections
A theoretical investigation of the bound-free electron-positron pair
production in relativistic heavy ion collisions is presented. Special attention
is paid to the positrons emitted under large angles with respect to the beam
direction. The measurement of these positrons in coincidence with the
down--charged ions is in principle feasible by LHC experiments. In order to
provide reliable estimates for such measurements, we employ the equivalent
photon approximation together with the Sauter approach and derive simple
analytic expressions for the differential pair--production cross section, which
compare favorably to the results of available numerical calculations. Based on
the analytic expressions, detailed calculations are performed for collisions of
bare Pb ions, taking typical experimental conditions of the LHC
experiments into account. We find that the expected count rate strongly depends
on the experimental parameters and may be significantly enhanced by increasing
the positron-detector acceptance cone.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure