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Evidence for light-by-light scattering in heavy-ion collisions with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

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journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-09, 08:48 authored by Benedict AllbrookeBenedict Allbrooke, Lily AsquithLily Asquith, Alessandro CerriAlessandro Cerri, C A Chavez Barajas, Antonella De SantoAntonella De Santo, Fabrizio SalvatoreFabrizio Salvatore, I Santoyo Castillo, K Suruliz, Mark SuttonMark Sutton, Iacopo Vivarelli, The ATLAS Collaboration
Light-by-light scattering (?? right arrow ??) is a quantum-mechanical process that is forbidden in the classical theory of electrodynamics. This reaction is accessible at the Large Hadron Collider thanks to the large electromagnetic field strengths generated by ultra-relativistic colliding lead ions. Using 480?µb-1 of lead–lead collision data recorded at a centre-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of 5.02 TeV by the ATLAS detector, here we report evidence for light-by-light scattering. A total of 13 candidate events were observed with an expected background of 2.6 ± 0.7 events. After background subtraction and analysis corrections, the fiducial cross-section of the process Pb + Pb (??) right arrow Pb( ) + Pb( )??, for photon transverse energy ET > 3 GeV, photon absolute pseudorapidity |?| < 2.4, diphoton invariant mass greater than 6 GeV, diphoton transverse momentum lower than 2 GeV and diphoton acoplanarity below 0.01, is measured to be 70 ± 24 (stat.) ± 17 (syst.) nb, which is in agreement with the standard model predictions.

Funding

ATLAS; G0275; STFC-SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY FACILITIES COUNCIL; ST/I006048/1

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Published version

Journal

Nature Physics

ISSN

1745-2473

Publisher

Nature Publishing Group

Volume

13

Page range

852-858

Department affiliated with

  • Physics and Astronomy Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2017-11-13

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2017-11-13

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2017-11-13

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