The coherent photoproduction of $\rm{J/ψ}$ and $\rm{ψ'}$ mesons was measured in ultra-peripheral Pb-Pb collisions at a center-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}~=~5.02$ TeV with the ALICE detector. Charmonia are detected in the central rapidity region for events where the hadronic interactions are strongly suppressed. The $\rm{J/ψ}$ is reconstructed using the dilepton ($l^{+} l^{-}$) and proton-antiproton decay channels, while for the $\rm{ψ'}$, the dilepton and the $l^{+} l^{-} π^{+} π^{-}$ decay channels are studied. The analysis is based on an event sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 233 ${μb}^{-1}$. The results are compared with theoretical models for coherent $\rm{J/ψ}$ and $\rm{ψ'}$ photoproduction. The coherent cross section is found to be in a good agreement with models incorporating moderate nuclear gluon shadowing of about 0.65 at a Bjorken-$x$ of around $6\times 10^{-4}$, such as the EPS09 parametrization, however none of the models is able to fully describe the rapidity dependence of the coherent $\rm{J/ψ}$ cross section including ALICE measurements at forward rapidity. The ratio of $\rm{ψ'}$ to $\rm{J/ψ}$ coherent photoproduction cross sections was also measured and found to be consistent with the one for photoproduction off protons.
Vector mesons are copiously produced in ultra-peripheral collisions. In these collisions, the impact parameter is larger than the sum of the radii of two projectiles, implying that electromagnetic processes become dominant. The cross section for this process is sensitive to the gluon distribution and can therefore probe nuclear gluon shadowing (Pb-Pb) and the gluon structure function in the nucleon (p-Pb). The ALICE Collaboration has performed the first measurement of the coherent J/$ψ$ and $ψ$(2S) photoproduction cross section in Pb-Pb collisions and that for exclusive J/$ψ$ photoproduction o…
Ultra-peripheral collisions (UPCs), studied using the ALICE detector, allow us to investigate the low-$x$ behavior of the gluon distribution of the colliding particles. Two new measurements of coherent J/$ψ$ photoproduction cross section from Pb-Pb UPCs at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=5.02$ TeV are presented: the first measurement of the $|t|$-dependence of the cross section providing a new tool to investigate the transverse gluonic structure at low Bjorken-$x$ and a rapidity-differential measurement at midrapidity allowing us to provide stringent constraints on nuclear gluon shadowing and saturation mo…
The ALICE collaboration performed the first rapidity-differential measurement of coherent J/$ψ$ photoproduction in ultra-peripheral Pb-Pb collisions at a center-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s_{\rm{NN}}}$ = 5.02 TeV. The J/$ψ$ is detected via its dimuon decay in the forward rapidity region ($-4.0 < y < -2.5$) for events where the hadronic activity is required to be minimal. The analysis is based on an event sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 750 $μ$b$^{-1}$. The cross section for coherent J/$ψ$ production is presented in six rapidity bins. The results are compared with theoretic…
We report the first measurement at the LHC of coherent photoproduction of $ρ^0$ mesons in ultra-peripheral Pb-Pb collisions. The invariant mass and transverse momentum distributions for $ρ^0$ production are studied in the $π^+ π^-$ decay channel at mid-rapidity. The production cross section in the rapidity range $|y|<0.5$ is found to be $\mathrm{d}σ/\mathrm{d}y = 425 \pm 10 \, (\mathrm{stat.})$ $^{+42}_{-50} \, (\mathrm{sys.})$ mb. Coherent $ρ^0$ production is studied with and without requirement of nuclear breakup, and the fractional yields for various breakup scenarios are presented. The res…
The first LHC measurement on ultra-peripheral heavy-ion collisions was carried out with the ALICE experiment. In this paper, ALICE results on exclusive J/psi studies in Pb-Pb collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 2.76 TeV, in the rapidity region -3.6 < y < -2.6, are given. The coherent J/psi cross section was found to be dsigma/dy_coh_J/ψ= 1.00 +/- 0.18 (stat) +0.24 -0.26 (syst) mb. These studies favour theoretical models that include strong modifications to the nuclear gluon density, also known as nuclear gluon shadowing.
The ALICE Collaboration has measured the energy dependence of exclusive photoproduction of $J/ψ$ vector mesons off proton targets in ultra-peripheral p-Pb collisions at a centre-of-mass energy per nucleon pair $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 5.02$ TeV. The e$^+$e$^-$ and $μ^+μ^-$ decay channels are used to measure the cross section as a function of the rapidity of the $J/ψ$ in the range $-2.5 < y < 2.7$, corresponding to an energy in the $γ$p centre-of-mass in the interval $40 < W_{γ\mathrm{p}}<550$ GeV. The measurements, which are consistent with a power law dependence of the exclusive $J/ψ$ photoproduc…
Cross sections for the coherent photoproduction of $ρ^{0}$ vector mesons in ultra-peripheral Pb-Pb collisions at $ \sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}= 5.02$ TeV are reported. The measurements, which rely on the $π^+π^-$ decay channel, are presented in three regions of rapidity covering the range $|y|<0.8$. For each rapidity interval, cross sections are shown for different nuclear-breakup classes defined according to the presence of neutrons measured in the zero-degree calorimeters. The results are compared with predictions based on different models of nuclear shadowing. Finally, the observation of a coher…
Photoproduction of $ρ^0$ mesons in ultra-peripheral Pb+Pb collisions has been studied by the ALICE Collaboration at the CERN LHC. The strong photon flux associated with relativistic charged nuclei leads to a very large cross section for exclusive photoproduction of $ρ^0$ meson in interactions of the type $Pb + Pb \rightarrow Pb + Pb + ρ^0$. For a $ρ^0$ produced at mid-rapidity at the LHC, the photon-nucleus center of mass energy is higher than in any previous experiment. The ALICE detector is a general purpose detector dedicated to study heavy--ion collisions. ALICE has excellent performance i…
Lead nuclei, accelerated at the LHC, are sources of strong electromagnetic fields that can be used to measure photon-induced interactions in a new kinematic regime. These interactions can be studied in ultra-peripheral p-Pb and Pb-Pb collisions where impact parameters are larger than the sum of the nuclear radii and hadronic interactions are strongly suppressed. Heavy quarkonium photoproduction is of particular interest since it is sensitive to the gluon distribution in the target. The ALICE Collaboration has studied J/psi and psi(2S) photoproduction in ultra-peripheral Pb-Pb collisions and ex…
In ultra-peripheral relativistic heavy ion collisions the beam ions scatter at impact parameters larger than the sum of their radii, so that they interact via long range electromagnetic forces. Due to the Lorentz-boost of the beam particles, the exchanged virtual photons have high energies and can induce the photoproduction of vector-mesons. We present recent results of the STAR experiment at RHIC on $ρ^0(770)$ production in Au-Au ultra-peripheral collisions at various energies. STAR has also observed the photoproduction of $π^+π^-π+π^-$, which is related to the still poorly known excited stat…
The cross section for coherent J/psi photoproduction accompanied by at least one neutron on one side of the interaction point and no neutron activity on the other side, X[n]0[n], is measured with the CMS experiment in ultra-peripheral PbPb collisions at sqrt(s[NN]) = 2.76 TeV. The analysis is based on a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 159 inverse microbarns, collected during the 2011 PbPb run. The J/psi mesons are reconstructed in the dimuon decay channel, while neutrons are detected using zero degree calorimeters. The measured cross section is dsigma[coh,X[n]0[n]] / d…
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…
The photoproduction of heavy vector mesons in the electromagnetic interactions of ultra-relativistic nuclei is sensitive to the gluon distribution in the nucleus and thus to cold nuclear matter effects like shadowing or parton saturation. Besides the well known observations of vector meson production in ultra-peripheral collisions, first observations of an excess over the expected hadronic J/$ψ$ production at very low transverse momentum ($p_T < $~0.3 GeV/$c$) in peripheral and semi-central nucleus-nucleus collisions both at LHC and RHIC energies were interpreted as the first sign of coherent …
Photoproduction of $J/Ψ$ in peripheral Oxygen-Oxygen collisions
Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina（圣卡塔琳娜州立大学）；Federal University of Grande Dourados, Faculty of Exact Sciences and Technology（大杜拉多斯联邦大学精确科学与技术学院）；Institute of Physics and Mathematics, Federal University of Pelotas (UFPel)（佩洛塔斯联邦大学物理与数学研究所）
We present the first measurement at the LHC of exclusive J/$ψ$ photoproduction off protons, in ultra-peripheral proton-lead collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=5.02$ TeV. Events are selected with a dimuon pair produced either in the rapidity interval, in the laboratory frame, $2.5<y<4$ (p-Pb) or $-3.6<y<-2.6$ (Pb--p), and no other particles observed in the ALICE acceptance. The measured cross sections $σ(γ+ {\rm p} \rightarrow J/ψ+ {\rm p})$ are 33.2 $\pm$ 2.2 (stat) $\pm$ 3.1 (syst) $\pm$ 0.7 (theo) nb in p-Pb and 284 $\pm$ 36 (stat) $^{+27}_{-32}$ (syst) $\pm$ 26 (theo) nb in Pb-p collisions. W…
The ALICE Collaboration at the LHC has measured the J/$ψ$ and $ψ^{'}$ photoproduction at mid-rapidity in ultra-peripheral Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=2.76$ TeV. The charmonium is identified via its leptonic decay for events where the hadronic activity is required to be minimal. The analysis is based on an event sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 23 $μ\rm{b}^{-1}$. The cross section for coherent and incoherent J/$ψ$ production in the rapidity interval $-0.9<y<0.9$, are $\mathrm{d}σ_{{\rm J}/ψ}^{\rm coh}/\mathrm{d}y = 2.38^{+0.34}_{-0.24}\big(\mathrm{sta+sys}\bi…
Exclusive dimuon production and coherent charmonium photoproduction at forward rapidity in ultra-peripheral Pb$-$Pb collisions at $\mathbf{\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=5.36}$ TeV
European Organization for Nuclear Research（欧洲核子研究中心）
The ALICE collaboration has made the first measurement at the LHC of J/$ψ$ photoproduction in ultra-peripheral Pb-Pb-collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 2.76 TeV. The J/$ψ$ is identified via its dimuon decay in the forward rapidity region with the muon spectrometer for events where the hadronic activity is required to be minimal. The analysis is based on an event sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 55 $μ$b$^{-1}$. The cross section for coherent J/$ψ$ production in the rapidity interval $-3.6 < y < -2.6$ is measured to be d$σ$/d$y = 1.00 \pm 0.18$ (stat) $+0.24/-0.26$ (sys…
Photoproduction reactions occur when the electromagnetic field of a relativistic heavy ion interacts with another heavy ion. The STAR collaboration presents a measurement of rho^0 and direct pi^+pi^- photoproduction in ultra-peripheral relativistic heavy ion collisions at sqrt(s_{NN})=200 GeV. We observe both exclusive photoproduction and photoproduction accompanied by mutual Coulomb excitation. We find a coherent cross-section of sigma(AuAu) -> Au^*Au^*rho^0 = 530 pm 19 (stat.) pm 57 (syst.) mb, in accord with theoretical calculations based on a Glauber approach, but considerably below the pr…
The first measurement of the coherent photoproduction of $ρ^{0}$ vector mesons in ultra-peripheral Xe-Xe collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{\rm NN}}}= 5.44$ TeV is presented. This result, together with previous HERA $γ$p data and $γ$-Pb measurements from ALICE, describes the atomic number ($A$) dependence of this process, which is particularly sensitive to nuclear shadowing effects and to the approach to the black-disc limit of QCD at a semi-hard scale. The cross section of the ${\rm Xe}+{\rm Xe} \to ρ^{0} + {\rm Xe}+{\rm Xe}$ process, measured at midrapidity through the decay channel $ρ^{0}\toπ^…
High energy ultra-peripheral collisions (UPC) of heavy-ions generate strong electromagnetic fields which open the possibility to study gamma-gamma and gamma-nucleus processes in a kinematic regime so far unexplored. We report on preliminary PHENIX results of J/Psi and high-mass e+e- photoproduction at mid-rapidity in coherent electromagnetic Au+Au interactions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV tagged with forward neutron emission from the Au* dissociation.
Ultra-peripheral Pb-Pb collisions, in which the two nuclei pass close to each other, but at an impact parameter greater than the sum of their radii, provide information about the initial state of nuclei. In particular, heavy vector meson production, where the particle mass sets a hard scale, proceeds in such collisions by photon-gluon interactions, and gives access to nuclear PDFs. The ALICE collaboration has published measurements of J/psi and psi(2S) photoproduction in ultra-peripheral collisions in LHC Run 1 at forward (J/psi) and mid-rapidity, and has obtained a substantially larger data s…
We present a summary of recent photoproduction results in ultra peripheral relativistic heavy ions collisions with STAR. These collisions have impact parameters larger then twice the nuclear radius; the nuclei do not physically collide, but interact via long-range electromagnetic fields. We observe exclusive $ρ^0$ production as well as $AuAu\to Au^*Au^* ρ^0$ with accompanying mutual nuclear excitation at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200$ GeV. We report the $ρ^0$ production cross section for both coherent and incoherent coupling accompanied by mutual nuclear excitation. We have studied the cross section as a…
We present a measurement of pi^+pi^-pi^+pi^- photonuclear production in ultra-peripheral Au-Au collisions at sqrt(s_{NN}) = 200 GeV from the STAR experiment. The pi^+pi^-pi^+pi^- 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^+pi^-pi^+pi^- invariant mass spectrum of the coherent events exhibits a broad peak around 1540 pm 40 MeV/c^2 with a width of 570 pm 60 MeV/c^2, in agreement with …
We present the first measurement of photoproduction of J/psi and of two-photon production of high-mass e+e- pairs in electromagnetic (or ultra-peripheral) nucleus-nucleus interactions, using Au+Au data at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV. The events are tagged with forward neutrons emitted following Coulomb excitation of one or both Au^{star} nuclei. The event sample consists of 28 events with m_{e+e-} > 2 GeV/c^2 with zero like-sign background. The measured cross sections at midrapidity of dσ/ dy (J/psi + Xn, y=0) = 76 +/- 33 (stat) +/- 11 (syst) micro b and d^2σ/dm dy (e^+e^- + Xn, y=0) = 86 +/- 23 (sta…
The strong electromagnetic fields surrounding the Pb-ions accelerated at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) allow two-photon and photonuclear interactions to be studied in a so far unexplored kinematic regime. Exclusive photoproduction of vector mesons can be studied in ultra-peripheral collisions, where the impact parameters are larger than the sum of the nuclear radii and hadronic interactions are strongly suppressed. During the heavy-ion runs at the LHC in 2010 and 2011, the ALICE collaboration used special triggers to select ultra-peripheral collisions. These triggers were based on the M…
The $ρ^0$ is copiously photoproduced in ultra-peripheral heavy-ion collisions at the LHC. In this talk, I will present recent results on $ρ$ photoproduction with ALICE, including cross-section measurements from PbPb and XeXe collisions, including a discussion of the production of high-mass final states that decay to $π^+π^-$, and of neutron production that accompanies $ρ$ photoproduction. I will conclude by presenting some prospects for ALICE in Runs 3 and 4.
Probing the neutron-skin thickness through $J/ψ$ photoproduction in ultra-peripheral collisions
Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院上海应用物理研究所）；University of Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院大学）；Fudan University（复旦大学）；East China Normal University（华东师范大学）
Ultra-relativistic heavy ions generate strong electromagnetic fields which offer the possibility to study $γ$-nucleus and $γ$-proton interactions at the LHC in the so called ultra-peripheral collisions (UPC). Here we report ALICE results on J/psi photoproduction measured in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 2.76 TeV and in p-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV.
We present recent STAR results on photoproduction in ultra-peripheral relativistic heavy ion collisions. In these collisions the impact parameter of the beam particles is larger than the sum of their nuclear radii, so that they interact via their long-range Coulomb fields. STAR has measured the production of $ρ^0(770)$ mesons in exclusive reactions as well as in processes with mutual nuclear excitation of the beam particles. We present results for the $ρ^0$ production cross section in Au-Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200$ GeV for coherent as well as incoherent coupling. The dependence of the…
Gluon density and its distributions inside nuclei and the parton modification of bounded nucleons inside a nucleus, are some of the main standing problems in nuclear and particle physics. In recent years, ultra-peripheral collisions (UPC) of heavy ions have provided a new way of probing the gluon density, which is based on coherent diffractive vector-meson productions, e.g., $J/ψ$ meson. For heavy ions, e.g., Pb, the gluon density is found to be significantly suppressed through the UPC $J/ψ$ measurement, suggesting a strong gluon shadowing effect in heavy nuclei. In this analysis, we aim to lo…
Measurement of jet photoproduction in ultra-peripheral Pb+Pb collisions without nuclear breakup at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}} = 5.02$ TeV with the ATLAS detector
EUROPEAN ORGANISATION FOR NUCLEAR RESEARCH (CERN)（欧洲核子研究中心）
Ultra-peripheral collisions (UPC) of heavy-ions involve long range electromagnetic interactions at impact parameters twice larger than the nuclear radius, where no nucleon-nucleon collisions occur. The first measurement of photoproduction of $J/ψ$ and of two-photon production of high-mass $e^+ e^-$ pairs in ultra-peripheral nucleus-nucleus interactions will be presented, using Au+Au data at $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}$ = 200 GeV. The measured cross sections at midrapidity are consistent with various theoretical predictions.
Jpsi and dielectron photoproduction measurements in ultra-peripheral Au+Au collisions at 200 GeV with the PHENIX experiment are presented. The triggered events correspond to those accompanied with forward neutron emission from the Au dissociation. Jpsi and high-mass dielectron cross sections and pT distributions are consistent with various theoretical calculations.
Ultra-peripheral collisions (UPC) occur when the interacting nuclei or protons have an impact parameter larger than the sum of their radii. They are mediated by virtual photon exchange. The photoproduction of heavy vector mesons is especially interesting because they couple to the photon. The ALICE Collaboration has analysed both p-Pb and Pb-Pb UPC at the centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 5.02$TeV which correspond to $γ$p and $γ$-Pb interactions, respectively. This poster reports the exclusive photoproduction of ${\mathrm J}/ψ$ off proton and Pb targets, which shed light on the occ…
Vector mesons are copiously produced in ultra-peripheral nucleus-nucleus collisions. In these collisions, the nuclei are separated by impact parameters larger than the sum of the nuclear radii, and the interaction is mediated by the electromagnetic field. The interaction effectively corresponds to a photonuclear interaction between a photon, generated from the electromagnetic field of one of the nuclei, and the target nucleus. The ALICE Collaboration has previously published results on exclusive J/psi photoproduction at mid and forward rapidities in Pb-Pb collisions. The cross section for this…
A study is presented to extend the measurements of photon-photon scattering in ultra-peripheral Pb-Pb collisions at the LHC into the mass region of the pseudoscalar resonances $η$ and $η'$. The elementary photon-photon scattering cross section is presented. The cross section for photon-photon scattering in Pb-Pb is derived by convoluting the elementary photon-photon cross section with the Pb-Pb photon luminosity. The main background to two-photon final states, arising from double $π^{0}$ production with two of the four decay photons escaping detection, is examined, and possible kinematical con…
Charged-particle spectra at midrapidity are measured in Pb-Pb collisions at the centre-of-mass energy per nucleon-nucleon pair $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV and presented in centrality classes ranging from most central (0-5%) to most peripheral (95-100%) collisions. Possible medium effects are quantified using the nuclear modification factor ($R_{\rm AA}$) by comparing the measured spectra with those from proton-proton collisions, scaled by the number of independent nucleon-nucleon collisions obtained from a Glauber model. At large transverse momenta ($8<p_{\rm T}<20$ GeV/$c$), the average $R…
The cross section for coherent $\mathrm{J/}ψ$ photoproduction in Pb-Pb collisions is the sum of two contributions, one from low-, the other from high-energy photon-nucleus interactions. A novel method to disentangle both contributions allowing one to extract the coherent photo-nuclear cross section for coherent $\mathrm{J/}ψ$ production, $σ_{γ\rm Pb}$, is presented. The utility of the method is demonstrated using measurements from peripheral and ultra-peripheral Pb-Pb collisions at the LHC. Applying the proposed method to the available data it is possible to obtain $σ_{γ\rm Pb}$ up to a photon…
In $ρ^0$ photoproduction in ultra-peripheral heavy ion collisions, either ion can be the photon emitter or the target. The two possibilities are indistinguishable, and they should be able to interfere, reducing $rho^0$ production at low transverse momentum, $p_T<\hbar/< b>$, where $<b>$ is the median impact parameter. The two $ρ^0$ production points are separated by $<b> \approx 18-46$ fm, while the $ρ^0$ decay before travelling 1 fm. The two decay points are well separated in space-time, so the decays proceed independently and any interference must involve the final state $π^+π^-$. This requi…
