Photonuclear Tomography in Ultraperipheral Heavy-Ion Collisions

TL;DR

This paper proposes a new photonuclear tomography technique using ultraperipheral heavy-ion collisions to reconstruct nuclear internal structures by analyzing photon-induced vector meson production.

Contribution

It introduces a systematic theoretical framework for using UPCs as a probe of nuclear geometry, enabling detailed nuclear structure studies.

Findings

Feasibility demonstrated through numerical calculations

Method provides new insights into nuclear spatial distributions

Potential for advancing nuclear structure research

Abstract

We present a theoretical investigation of photonuclear tomography as a novel technique for probing the internal structure of nuclei. In this approach, ultraperipheral heavy-ion collisions (UPCs) serve as a source of intense fluxes of virtual photons, which induce coherent production of vector mesons. By analyzing the probabilities and cross sections of these photon-induced processes, we propose a methodology for reconstructing the spatial distribution of nucleons within the nucleus. Our framework provides a systematic way to access information on the nuclear geometry probed in UPCs, offering new opportunities for studies of nuclear structure using particle production as a probe. Numerical calculations for selected examples illustrate the feasibility and potential of this method.