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Photonuclear tomography in ultraperipheral heavy-ion collisions

J. D. Baker*

C. A. Bertulani†

Victor P. Gonçalves‡

  • *Contact author: jbaker51@leomail.etamu.edu
  • †Contact author: carlos.bertulani@etamu.edu
  • ‡Contact author: barros@ufpel.edu.br
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Phys. Rev. C 112, 034911 – Published 22 September, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/rb78-nmcs

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.

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Phys. Rev. C 112, 034911– Published 22 September, 2025
  • Received 14 May 2025
  • Accepted 27 August 2025
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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