Mapping color fluctuations in the photon in ultraperipheral heavy ion collisions at the Large Hadron Collider

Abstract

We model effects of color fluctuations (CFs) in the light-cone photon wave function and for the first time make predictions for the distribution over the number of wounded nucleons $ν$ in the inelastic photon-nucleus scattering. We show that CFs lead to a dramatic enhancement of this distribution at $ν=1$ and large $ν> 10$. We also study the implications of different scales and CFs in the photon wave function on the total transverse energy $ΣE_T$ and other observables in inelastic $γA$ scattering with different triggers. Our predictions can be tested in proton-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus ultraperipheral collisions at the LHC and will help to map CFs, whose first indications have already been observed at the LHC.

11 pages, 4 figures. Matches the final published version