Double-Pomeron and two-photon processes at RHIC

Abstract

Double-Pomeron processes have been shown to be an important and novel source of hadron production at moderate energies at the ISR. These processes are expected to provide glue-rich hadrons from 1 GeV to 10 GeV or more, encompassing the states consisting of u, d, s and b quarks. The double-pomeron cross sections for central hadroproduction are calculated for p {times} p and Au {times} Au at RHIC. Two-photon production of hadrons in the central region begins to dominate or at least become comparable to the double-Pomeron processes as the Z of the beams increases from p to Au. Since photons couple to charge, these hadroproductions involve mainly quarkonia and multiquark states. Therefore, a comparative study of these processes is expected to provide new insights into the constituents of hadronic matter. The two-photon processes are calculated following the recipe given by Cahn and Jackson. The paper starts out with a thorough discussion of the relevant kinematics, phase space and Regge amplitudes