Ultra-Peripheral Collisions with gold ions in STAR

TL;DR

This paper reports on photonuclear interactions observed in ultra-peripheral gold ion collisions, analyzing pion pair production, interference effects, and diffraction patterns to study nuclear structure and meson states.

Contribution

First detailed analysis of photonuclear interactions in ultra-peripheral gold collisions, measuring meson component amplitudes, phase angles, and diffraction minima for nuclear structure insights.

Findings

Clear observation of $ ho$, $ ho$-$ ext{omega}$ interference

Detection of a $ ho_3(1690)$-like state at 1653 MeV

Diffraction minima sensitive to gold nucleus radius

Abstract

In 2010, the STAR Collaboration collected 38 million low-multiplicity triggers for ultra-peripheral collision studies. We present new results involving photonuclear interactions in ultra-peripheral relativistic heavy ion collisions (UPCs), based on an analysis of 384,000 photoproduced pion pairs, from $\rho$, $\omega$ and direct $\pi^+\pi^-$ pair production.The $\omega$ component is clearly visible through its interference with the $\rho$ peak. The relative amplitudes of the three components have been measured, along with the phase angle between the $\rho$ and $\omega$ components. Using a two-year (2010 and 2011) dataset, we explore higher mass final states, and observe a $\pi^+\pi^-$ state with a mass of $1653 \pm 10$ MeV and a width of $164\pm 15$ MeV (statistical errors only). The state is at least roughly compatible with the $\rho_3(1690)$. The $\rho^0$ squared momentum transfer ($t$) spectrum exhibits a spectrum with both coherent and incoherent prodution. The coherent component shows two characteristic diffraction minima, with positions that are sensitive to the hadronic radius of the gold nucleus.