Electromagnetic dissociation of heavy nuclei in ultra-peripheral interactions at high energies can be used to monitor the beam luminosity at colliders. In ALICE neutrons emitted by the excited nuclei close to beam rapidity are detected by the Zero Degree Calorimeters (ZDCs), providing a precise measurement of the event rate. During the 2010 Pb run, a dedicated data taking was performed triggering on electromagnetic processes with the ZDCs. These data, combined with the results from a Van der Meer scan, allowed to measure the electromagnetic dissociation cross-section of Pb nuclei at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$~=~2.76~TeV. Experimental results on various cross-sections are presented together with a comparison to the available predictions.
In the context of the search for triples of relativistic $α$-particles in the Hoyle state, the analysis of available data on the dissociation of the nuclei ${}^{12}$C, ${}^{16}$O and ${}^{22}$Ne in the nuclear emulsion was carried out. The Hoyle state is identified by the invariant mass calculated from pair angles of expansion in $α$-triples in the approximation of the conservation of the momentum per nucleon of the parent nucleus. The contribution of the Hoyle state to the dissociation of ${}^{12}$C $\to$ 3$α$ is 11\%. In the case of the coherent dissociation of ${}^{16}$O $\to$ 4$α$ it reach…
The first measurement of neutron emission in electromagnetic dissociation of $^{208}$Pb nuclei at the LHC is presented. The measurement is performed using the neutron Zero Degree Calorimeters of the ALICE experiment, which detect neutral particles close to beam rapidity. The measured cross sections of single and mutual electromagnetic dissociation of Pb nuclei at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 2.76 TeV with neutron emission are $σ_{\rm single\ EMD} = 187.4\pm0.2$ (stat.) $^{+13.2} _{-11.2}$ (syst.) b and $σ_{\rm mutual\ EMD} = 5.7\pm0.1$ (stat.) $\pm$0.4 (syst.) b, respectively. The experimental result…
Status and prospects of nuclear clustering studies by dissociation of relativistic nuclei in nuclear track emulsion are presented. The unstable $^{8}$Be and $^{9}$B nuclei are identified in dissociation of the isotopes $^{9}$Be, $^{10}$B, $^{10}$C and $^{11}$C, and the Hoyle state in the cases $^{12}$C and $^{16}$O. On this ground searching for the Hoyle state and more complex $α$-particle states in the dissociation of the heavier nuclei is suggested. A detailed study of a low-density baryonic matter arising in dissociation of the heaviest nuclei is forthcoming long-term problem. An analysis o…
Results on the coherent dissociation of relativistic $^9$C nuclei in a nuclear track emulsion are described. These results include the charge topology and kinematical features of final states. Events of C-9 to 3He-3 coherent dissociation are identified.
Nuclear track emulsion is exposed to 1.2 A $^9$C GeV nuclei. Pairs of 2$^3$He nuclei having unusually narrow opening angles are observed in channel $^9$C $\rightarrow$ 3$^3$He pointing to the possible 2$^3$He resonance near the production threshold.
The charge topology of coherent-dissociation events is presented for $^{11}$C and $^{12}$N nuclei of energy 1.2~\textit{A}~GeV per nucleon bombarding nuclear track emulsions. This topology is compared with respective data for $^{7}$Be, $^{8,10}$B, $^{9,10}$C and $^{14}$N nuclei.
Dissociation of 1.2 A GeV $^{10}$C nuclei in nuclear track emulsionis is studied. It is shown that most precise angular measurements provided by this technique play a crucial role in the restoration of the excitation spectrum of the 2$α$+2p system. Strong contribution of the cascade process $^{10}$C$\rightarrow ^9$B$\rightarrow ^8$Be identified.
The dissociation features in nuclear track emulsion of $^9$Be, $^{9,10}$C, and $^{12}$N nuclei of 1.2 A GeV energy are presented. The data presented for the nucleus $^9$Be can be considered as evidence that there is a core in its structure in the form of 0$^+$ and 2$^+$ states of the $^8$Be nucleus having roughly equal weights. Events of coherent dissociation $^9$C$\rightarrow 3^3$He associated with the rearrangement of the nucleons outside the $α$-clustering are identified. A pattern of the charge fragment topology in the dissociation of $^{10}$C and $^{12}$N nuclei is obtained for the first …
Studies attempting to probe the spatial configuration of the valence neutrons in two-neutron halo nuclei using the technique of intensity interferometry are described. Following a brief review of the method and its application to earlier measurements of the breakup of 6He, 11Li and 14Be, the results of the analysis of a high statistics data set for 6He are presented. The limitations of the technique, including the assumption of incoherent emission in the breakup and the sensitivity to the continuum states populated in the dissociation rather than the ground state, are discussed.
Experimental data on fragmentation channels in peripheral interactions of $^8$B nuclei in nuclear track emulsions are presented. A detailed analysis made it possible to justify selections of events of the electromagnetic-dissociation process $^8$B $\to^7$Be + \emph{p} and to estimate its cross section. Events of $^{10}$C peripheral dissociation that were observed in the same exposure are described.
The dissociation of relativistic $^{12}$N nuclei having a momentum of 2 GeV/c per nucleon and undergoing the most peripheral interactions in a track emulsion is studied. The picture of charged topology of product ensembles of relativistic fragments and special features of their angular distributions are presented.
The charge topology in the fragmentation of $^{10}$C nuclei in a track nuclear emulsion at an energy of 1.2 GeV per nucleon is studied. In the coherent dissociation of $^{10}$C nuclei, about 82% of events are associated with the channel $^{10}$C $\rightarrow$ 2$α+$ 2\emph{p}. The angular distributions and correlations of product fragments are presented for this channel. It is found that among $^{10}$C $\rightarrow$ 2$α+$ 2\emph{p} events, about 30% are associated with the process in which dissociation through the ground state of the unstable $^9$Be$_{g.s.}$ nucleus is followed by $^8$Be$_{g.s.…
Possibilities of the nuclear emulsion technique for the study of the systems of several relativistic fragments produced in the peripheral interactions of relativistic nuclei are discussed. The interactions of the $^{10}$B and $^{9}$Be nuclei in emulsion are taken as an example to show the manifestation of the cluster degrees of freedom in relativistic fragmentation. For the case of the relativistic $^{9}$Be nucleus dissociation it is shown that exact angular measurements play a crucial role in the restoration of the excitation spectrum of the alpha particle fragments. The energy calibration of…
A role of the unstable nuclei ${}^{6}$Be, ${}^{8}$Be and ${}^{9}$B in the dissociation of relativistic nuclei ${}^{7,9}$Be, ${}^{10}$B and ${}^{10,11}$C is under study on the basis of nuclear track emulsion exposed to secondary beams of the JINR Nuclotron. Contribution of the configuration ${}^{6}$Be + $\mit{n}$ to the ${}^{7}$Be nucleus structure is 8 $\pm$ 1% which is near the value for the configuration ${}^{6}$Li + $\mit{p}$. Distributions over the opening angle of $α$-particle pairs indicate to a simultaneous presence of virtual ${}^{8}$Be$_{g.s.}$ and ${}^{8}$Be$_{2^+}$ states in the gro…
Production of ensembles of $α$-particle triples associated with the Hoyle state (the second excited state of the ${}^{12}$C nucleus) in peripheral dissociation of relativistic ${}^{12}$C nuclei is studied. Stacks of nuclear track emulsion pellicles exposed to ${}^{12}$C with an energy from hundreds MeV to a few GeV per nucleon serve as the material for studies. The Hoyle state decays are reconstructed via measurement of emission angles of $α$ particles with the precision sufficient for identification of the unstable ${}^{8}$Be nucleus. The estimate of the contribution of Hoyle's state to the $…
These lecture notes present the capabilities of relativistic nuclear physics for the development of the physics of nuclear clusters. Nuclear track emulsion continues to be an effective technique for pilot studies that allows one, in particular, to study the cluster dissociation of a wide variety of light relativistic nuclei within a common approach. Despite the fact that the capabilities of the relativistic fragmentation for the study of nuclear clustering were recognized quite a long time ago, electronic experiments have not been able to come closer to an integrated analysis of ensembles of r…
The cross section for the nuclear diffractive dissociation in proton-lead collisions at the LHC is estimated. Based on the current theoretical uncertainties for the single (target) diffactive cross section in hadron-hadron reactions one obtains sigma_SD(5.02 TeV) = 19.67 \pm 5.41 mb and sigma_SD(8.8 TeV) = 18.76 \pm 5.77 mb, respectively. The invariant mass M_X for the reaction pPb -> pX is also analyzed. Discussion is performed on the main theoretical uncertainties associated to the calculations.
The invariant mass method is used to identify the $^8$Be and $^9$B nuclei and Hoyle state formed in dissociation of relativistic nuclei in a nuclear track emulsion. It is shown that to identify these extremely short-lived states in the case of the isotopes $^9$Be, $^{10}$B, $^{10}$C, $^{11}$C, $^{12}$C, and $^{16}$O, it is sufficient to determine the invariant mass as a function of the angles in pairs and triples of He and H fragments in the approximation of the conservation of momentum per nucleon of the parent nucleus. According to the criteria established in this way, the contribution of th…
The field of Diffraction Dissociation, which is the subject of this workshop, began 50 years ago with the analysis of deuteron stripping in low energy collisions with nuclei. We return to the subject in a modern context- deuteron dissociation in $\sqrt{s_{NN}}= 200$ GeV d-Au collisions recorded during the 2003 RHIC run in the PHENIX experiment. At RHIC energy, d$\to$n+p proceeds predominantly (90%) through Electromagnetic Dissociation and the remaining fraction via the hadronic shadowing described by Glauber. Since the dissociation cross section has a small theoretical error we adopt this proc…
The inelastic scattering of electrons on weakly-bound nuclei is studied with a simple model based on the long range behavior of the bound state wavefunction and on the effective-range expansion for the continuum wavefunctions. Three mechanisms have been considered: (a) dissociation of halo nuclei by high energy electrons, (b) dissociation by electrons present in a fixed target, and (c) Coulomb dissociation. It is shown that the properties of halo nuclei can be studied in electron-radioactive beam colliders using the electro-disintegration process. A comparison with fixed-target experiments is …
We present model results for the two-halo-neutron correlation functions, $C_{nn}$, for the dissociation process of light exotic nuclei modelled as two neutrons and a core. A minimum is predicted for $C_{nn}$ as a function of the relative momentum of the two neutrons, $p_{nn}$, due to the coherence of the neutrons in the halo and final state interaction. Studying the systems $^{14}$Be, $^{11}$Li and $^{6}$He within this model, we show that the numerical asymptotic limit, $C_{nn}\to 1$, occurs only for $p_{nn}\gtrsim$ 400 MeV$/c$, while such limit is reached for much lower values of $p_{nn}$ in …
In the events of peripheral dissociation of relativistic nuclei in the nuclear track emulsion, it is possible to study the emerging ensembles of He and H nuclei, including those from decays of unstable $^{8}$Be and $^{9}$B nuclei, as well as the Hoyle state. These extremely short-lived states are identified by invariant masses calculated from the angles in 2$α$-pairs, 2$αp$- and 3$α$-triplets in the approximation of conservation of momentum per nucleon of the primary nucleus. In the same approach, it is possible to search for more complex states. This paper explores the correlation between the…
The technique of nuclear track emulsions is used to explore the fragmentation of light relativistic nuclei down to the most peripheral interactions - nuclear "white" stars. A complete pattern of therelativistic dissociation of a $^8$B nucleus with target fragment accompaniment is presented. Relativistic dissociation $^{9}$Be$\to2α$ is explored using significant statistics and a relative contribution of $^{8}$Be decays from 0$^+$ and 2$^+$ states is established. Target fragment accompaniments are shown for relativistic fragmentation $^{14}$N$\to$3He+H and $^{22}$Ne$\to$5He. The leading role of …
Using the general notion of cross section fluctuations in hadron--nucleus scattering at high energies, we derive an expression for the cross section of incoherent $J/ψ$ photoproduction on heavy nuclei $dσ_{γA \to J/ψY}/dt$, which includes both elastic $dσ_{γp \to J/ψp}/dt$ and proton-dissociation $dσ_{γp \to J/ψY}/dt$ photoproduction on target nucleons. We find that with good accuracy, $dσ_{γA \to J/ψY}/dt$ can be expressed as a product of the sum of the $dσ_{γp \to J/ψp}/dt$ and $dσ_{γp \to J/ψY}/dt$ cross sections, which have been measured at HERA, and the common nuclear shadowing factor, wh…
The results of investigations dealing with the charge topology of the fragments produced in peripheral dissociation of relativistic $^8$B nuclei in emulsion are presented. 55 events of peripheral dissociation of the $^8$B nucleus were selected from the events which do not involve the production of the target-nucleus fragments and mesons (`` white\rq\rq ~stars). A leading contribution of the $^8$B$\to^7$Be+p mode having the lowest energy threshold was revealed on the basis of those events. Information on the relative probability of dissociation modes with a larger multiplicity was obtained. The…
The differential cross section in the transverse momentum $Q$ and a total cross section of $(31\pm4)$ mb for the coherent dissociation of a 3-A-GeV/$c$ $^7$Li nucleus through the $^3$H$+^4$He channel have been measured on emulsion nuclei. The observed $Q$ dependence of the cross section is explained by the predominant supposition of the nuclear diffraction patterns on light (C, N, O) and heavy (Br, Ag) emulsion nuclei. The contributions to the cross section from nuclear diffraction ($Q\le400$ MeV/$c$) and Coulomb $(Q\le50$ MeV/$c$) dissociations are calculated to be 40.7 and 4 mb, respectively…
Invariant differential yields of deuterons and anti-deuterons in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 0.9, 2.76 and 7 TeV and the yields of tritons, $^{3}$He nuclei and their anti-nuclei at $\sqrt{s}$ = 7 TeV have been measured with the ALICE detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The measurements cover a wide transverse momentum ($p_{\text{T}}$) range in the rapidity interval $|y|<0.5$, extending both the energy and the $p_{\text{T}}$ reach of previous measurements up to 3 GeV/$c$ for $A=2$ and 6 GeV/$c$ for $A=3$. The coalescence parameters of (anti-)deuterons and $^{3}\overline{\text{He}}$ nu…
We discuss recent work on Coulomb dissociation and an effective-range theory of low-lying electromagnetic strength of halo nuclei. We propose to study Coulomb dissociation of a halo nucleus bound by a zero-range potential as a homework problem. We study the transition from stripping to bound and unbound states and point out in this context that the Trojan-Horse method is a suitable tool to investigate subthreshold resonances.
The CLAS collaboration at Jefferson Laboratory has compared nuclear parton distributions for a range of nuclear targets and found that the EMC effect measured in deep inelastic lepton-nucleus scattering has a strongly "isophobic" nature. This surprising observation suggests short-range correlations between neighboring $n$ and $p$ nucleons in nuclear wavefunctions that are much stronger compared to $p-p$ or $n-n$ correlations. In this paper we propose a definitive experimental test of the nucleon-nucleon explanation of the isophobic nature of the EMC effect: the diffractive dissociation on a nu…
The study of the production of nuclei and antinuclei in pp collisions has proven to be a powerful tool to investigate the formation mechanism of loosely bound states in high-energy hadronic collisions. In this paper, the production of protons, deuterons and $^3$He and their charge conjugates at midrapidity is studied as a function of the charged-particle multiplicity in inelastic pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}=5.02$ TeV using the ALICE detector. Within the uncertainties, the yields of nuclei in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}=5.02$ TeV are compatible with those in pp collisions at different energies an…
In the present paper, experimental observations of the multifragmentation processes of light relativistic nuclei carried out by means of emulsions are reviewed. Events of the type of "white" stars in which the dissociation of relativistic nuclei is not accompanied by the production of mesons and the target-nucleus fragments are considered. A distinctive feature of the charge topology in the dissociation of the Ne, Mg, Si, and S nuclei is an almost total suppression of the binary splitting of nuclei to fragments with charges higher than 2. The growth of the nuclear fragmentation degree is revea…
We present predictions for the J/psi and rho meson production in the heavy ion ultraperipheral collisions (UPC) for the current energy 2.76 TeV at the LHC. Both total cross sections and cross sections with the neutron emission from one or both nuclei are presented. We also analyse the RHIC rho meson photoproduction data and emphasize importance of these data to test the current model for nucleus break up in UPC.
First results of an analysis to determine contribution of decays of the unstable $^{8}$Be and $^{9}$B nuclei and the Hoyle 3$α$-state to dissociation of $^{14}$N $\to$ 3He (+H) are presented. As the research material, layers of nuclear track emulsion longitudinally exposed to 2.9 $A$ GeV/$c$ $^{14}$N nuclei with at the JINR Nuclotron. Under the assumption that the He and H fragments retain momentum per nucleon of the primary nucleus, these unstable states are identified by the invariant mass calculated from the emission angles of the fragments.
Understanding the production mechanism of light (anti)nuclei is one of the key challenges of nuclear physics and has important consequences for astrophysics, since it provides an input for indirect dark-matter searches in space. In this paper, the latest results about the production of light (anti)nuclei in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV are presented, focusing on the comparison with the predictions of coalescence and thermal models. For the first time, the coalescence parameters $B_2$ for deuterons and $B_3$ for helions are compared with parameter-free theoretical predictions that are d…
We report on the first measurement of Mutual Coulomb Dissociation in heavy ion collisions. We employ forward calorimeters to measure neutron multiplicity at beam rapidity in peripheral collisions. The cross-section for simultaneous electromagnetic breakup of Au nuclei at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=130$ GeV is $σ_{MCD}=3.67\pm 0.25$ barns in good agreement with calculations.
Indirect methods in nuclear astrophysics are discussed. Recent work on Coulomb dissociation and an effective-range theory of low-lying electromagnetic strength of halo nuclei is presented. Coulomb dissociation of a halo nucleus bound by a zero-range potential is proposed as a homework problem (for further references see G. Baur and S. Typel, nucl-th/0504068). It is pointed out that the Trojan-Horse method (G. Baur, F. Rösel, D. Trautmann and R. Shyam, Phys. Rep. 111 (1984) 333) is a suitable tool to investigate subthreshold resonances.
Coulomb dissociation is an especially simple and important reaction mechanism. Since the perturbation due to the electric field of the (target) nucleus is exactly known, firm conclusions can be drawn from such measurements. Electromagnetic matrixelements and astrophysical S-factors for radiative capture processes can be extracted from experiments. We describe the basic elements of the theory of nonrelativistic and relativistic electromagnetic excitation with heavy ions. This is contrasted to electromagnetic excitation with leptons (electrons), with their small electric charge and the absence o…
First results of ALICE on the production of nuclei and antinuclei in pp collisions at \surd s = 7 TeV are presented. These particles are identified using the energy loss (dE/dx) measurements in the Time Projection Chamber. The Inner Tracking System allows a precise determination of the event vertex, by which primary and secondary particles are well separated. The high statistics of over 350 M events give a significant number of light nuclei and antinuclei such as (anti)deuterons, (anti)tritons, (anti)Helium3 and possibly (anti)hypertritons. The study of nuclei and antinuclei will help to under…
The pseudorapidity distributions of dijets as a function of their average transverse momentum ($p_\mathrm{T}^\text{ave}$) are measured in proton-lead (pPb) and proton-proton (pp) collisions. The data samples were collected by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC, at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV. A significant modification of the pPb spectra with respect to the pp spectra is observed in all $p_\mathrm{T}^\text{ave}$ intervals investigated. The ratios of the pPb and pp distributions are compared to next-to-leading order perturbative quantum chromodynamics calculations with u…
The intense photon fluxes of relativistic nuclei provide a possibility to study photonuclear and two-photon interactions in ultra-peripheral collisions (UPC) where the nuclei do not overlap and no strong nuclear interactions occur. The study of such collisions provides information about the initial state of nuclei. First ALICE results from the LHC Run 2 are presented for forward exclusive \jpsi production in UPC, which is sensitive to the gluon distribution in nuclei. The increased statistics and the higher collision energy allows for a more detailed study at lower values of Bjorken-$x$. The a…
First searches for the coherent dissociation of relativistic oxygen nuclei into four a particles are reported. It is shown that reactions of this type are characterized by a significantly lower decay temperature than the conventional multifragmentation of residual projectile nuclei. The momentum spectra and correlations of a panicles are not reproduced by the simple statistical model of direct fragmentation. The possibility that the oxygen nucleus undergoing fragmentation acquires a nonzero angular momentum in the collision process is discussed.
By the methods of mathematical statistics we test a qualitative prediction of the old theory of relativistic hydrodynamics non-viscous liquid which can be used as a part of the process of hadronization within the modern hydrodynamical approach for the description of the quark-gluon plasma. Experimental data on the interaction of protons with the energies of 0.8 TeV with emulsion nuclei are used. Results do not contradict the formation of relativistic ideal non-viscous liquid in rare central collisions.
Using the coalescence model based on the phase-space distribution of nucleons from an extended blast-wave model that includes the space-momentum correlation of high momentum nucleons, we study the transverse momentum spectra and elliptic flows of deuteron and helium-3 in Pb+Pb collisions at the energy $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=2.76$ TeV. We find that the measured elliptic flows of deuteron can be satisfactorily described if nucleons of large transverse momenta are more spread in space when their momenta are more aligned along the reaction plane.
Coulomb dissociation is an especially simple and important reaction mechanism. Since the perturbation due to the electric field of the (target) nucleus is exactly known, firm conclusions can be drawn from such measurements. Electromagnetic matrixelements and astrophysical $S$-factors for radiative capture processes can be extracted from experiments. The dissociation of neutron halo nuclei is studied in a zero range model using analytical methods. Of special interest for nuclear structure physics is the appearence of low lying electric dipole strength in neutron rich nuclei. We use effective ra…
We study different processes responsible for the modification of quarkonia yields in the medium produced in PbPb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV. The quarkonia and heavy flavour cross sections are estimated using the measurements in pp collisions at LHC energies and shadowing corrections are obtained using the EPS09 parametrizations. A kinetic model is used which incorporates quarkonia suppression inside the Quark Gluon Plasma (QGP), suppression due to hadronic comovers, and regeneration from recombination of heavy quark pairs. The quarkonia dissociation cross section due to gluon col…
Progress in the study of the peripheral nuclear interactions in $^{14}N$ dissociation at $2.1A GeV$ in nuclear emulsion is outlined. The leading role of the multiple fragmentations in the most peripheral nucleus interactions is discussed. The production of unusual states, for which a regrouping of nucleons beyond the $α$-particle clustering is needed, is identified for this channel.
Three-body correlations in the dissociation of two-neutron halo nuclei are explored using a technique based on intensity interferometry and Dalitz plots. This provides for the combined treatment of both the n-n and core-n interactions in the exit channel. As an example, the breakup of 14Be into 12Be+n+n by Pb and C targets has been analysed and the halo n-n separation extracted. A finite delay between the emission of the neutrons in the reaction on the C target was observed and is attributed to 13Be resonances populated in sequential breakup.
