Overview of the latest ATLAS and ATLAS-AFP photoproduction results

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent photoproduction results from ATLAS and AFP detectors at the LHC, highlighting studies of rare proton interactions involving electromagnetic and strong force processes with intact protons.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of the latest experimental findings on photoproduction using specialized forward proton detectors at the LHC.

Findings

Photoproduction results from ATLAS and AFP are summarized.

Insights into quantum chromodynamics from forward proton measurements.

Detection techniques for small-angle scattered protons are discussed.

Abstract

A key focus of the physics program at the LHC is the study of head-on proton-proton collisions. However, an important class of physics can be studied for cases where the protons narrowly miss one another and remain intact. In such cases, the electromagnetic fields surrounding the protons can interact producing high-energy photon-photon collisions. Alternatively, interactions mediated by the strong force can also result in intact forward scattered protons, providing probes of quantum chromodynamics (QCD). In order to aid identification and provide unique information about these rare interactions, instrumentation to detect and measure protons scattered through very small angles is installed in the beam pipe far downstream of the interaction point. We review photoproduction results from data collected with the ATLAS Forward Proton (AFP) and Absolute Luminosity For ATLAS (ALFA) detectors in proton-proton and heavy ion collisions.