Photon decay in a strong magnetic field in heavy-ion collisions
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2011-01-01
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Abstract
We calculate the photon pair production rate in a strong magnetic field created in off-central heavy-ion collisions. Photon decay leads to depletion of the photon yield by a few percent at RHIC and by as much as 20% at the LHC. It also generates a substantial azimuthal asymmetry (“elliptic flow”) of the final photon distribution. We estimate v2 ≈ 2% at RHIC and v2 ≈ 14% at LHC. Photon decay measurements is an important tool for studying the magnetic fields in early stages of heavy-ion collisions.
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This article is from Physical Review C 83 (2011): 017901, doi: 10.1103/PhysRevC.83.017901. Posted with permission.
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Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 UTC 2011