The QCD Pomeron in Ultraperipheral Heavy Ion Collisions: IV. Photonuclear Production of Vector Mesons

Abstract

The photonuclear production of vector mesons in ultraperipheral heavy ion collisions is investigated within the QCD color dipole picture, with particular emphasis on the saturation model. The integrated cross section and the rapidity distribution for the A + A --> V + A + A (V = rho, omega, phi, J/Psi) process are computed and theoretical estimates for scattering on both light and heavy nuclei are given for energies of RHIC and LHC. A comparison with the recent STAR data on coherent production of rho mesons is also presented. Furthermore, we calculate the photoproduction of vector mesons in proton-proton collisions at RHIC, Tevatron and LHC energies.