Probing quantum phenomena through photoproduction in relativistic heavy-ion collisions
Photoproduction in ultra-peripheral relativistic heavy-ion collisions displays many unique features, often involving quantum mechanical coherence and two-source interference between photon emission from the two ions. We review the recent experimental results from RHIC and the LHC and theoretical studies of coherent vector meson photoproduction, emphasizing the quantum mechanical aspects of the interactions and the entanglement between the final state particles. These studies enrich our understanding of non-local realism, underscore the critical role of the polarization of the photon source, quantum interference and nuclear effect on the gluon distribution. It paves a way for quantitatively probing the quantum nature of these high-energy nuclear collisions.
Authors
- S. Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2075-8631)
- S. R. Klein (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2841-6553)
- W. Zha (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6094-9574)
- N. Xu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8853-0409)
- James Daniel Brandenburg (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6327-5947)
- Jian Zhou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7003-9101)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Progress in Particle and Nuclear Physics
- Published
- 2025-04-21
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ppnp.2025.104174
- Primary Topic
- High-Energy Particle Collisions Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- U.S. Department of Energy
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Chinese Academy of Sciences
- Youth Innovation Promotion Association of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
- Office of Science
- Natural Science Foundation of Anhui Province
- National Key Research and Development Program of China
- Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation of Guangdong Province
- Nuclear Physics