TWO-PHOTON PHYSICS IN NUCLEUS-NUCLEUS COLLISIONS AT RHIC.
/ Authors
/ Abstract
Ultra-relativistic heavy-ions carry strong electromagnetic and nuclear fields. Interactions between these fields in peripheral nucleus-nucleus collisions can probe many interesting physics topics. This presentation will focus on coherent two-photon and photonuclear processes at RHIC. The rates for these interactions will be high. The coherent coupling of all the protons in the nucleus enhances the equivalent photon flux by a factor Z{sup 2} up to an energy of {approx} 3 GeV. The plans for studying coherent interactions with the STAR experiment will be discussed. Experimental techniques for separating signal from background will be presented.