Physics from Photons at the LHC

Abstract

LHC collisions can act as a source of photons in the initial state. This mechanism plays an important role in the production of particles with electroweak couplings, and a precise account of photon-initiated (PI) production at the LHC is a key ingredient in the LHC precision physics programme. I will discuss the possibility of modelling PI processes directly via the structure function approach. This can provide percent level precision in the production cross sections, and is therefore well positioned to account for LHC precision requirements. This formalism in addition allows one to make use of another useful feature of photons, namely that they are colour-singlet and can often be emitted elastically (or quasi-elastically) from the proton. I will discuss recent work on applications of the structure function approach to precision calculations of PI production in the inclusive mode, and to 'exclusive' processes with rapidity gaps, which can provide a unique probe of the Standard Model and physics beyond it.