Abstract
We argue that measurements of forward neutrons from nuclear breakup in inclusive high energy photon-nucleus (γA) scattering provide a novel way to study small-x dynamics of QCD in heavy-ion ultraperipheral collisions (UPCs). Using models for hadronic fluctuations of the real photon and neutron emission in nuclear fragmentation, we calculate the distribution over the number of evaporation neutrons produced in γPb collisions at the Large Hadron Collider. We show that it is correlated with the number of wounded nucleons (inelastic collisions) and, hence, can constrain the mechanism of nuclear shadowing and its x dependence.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | 025205 |
Journal | Physical Review C |
Volume | 110 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Aug 2024 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Nuclear and High Energy Physics