Measurement of mutual coulomb dissociation in sqrt[s(NN)] = 130 GeV Au + Au collisions.
We report on the first measurement of mutual Coulomb dissociation in heavy-ion collisions. We employ forward calorimeters to measure neutron multiplicity at beam rapidity. The cross section for simultaneous electromagnetic breakup of Au nuclei at a nucleon-nucleon center of mass energy sqrt[s(NN)] = 130 GeV is sigma(MCD) = 3.67+/-0.26 barns, which is comparable to the geometrical cross section. The ratio of the electromagnetic to the total cross section is in good agreement with calculations, as is the neutron multiplicity distribution.
Chiu
Mickey
M
Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA.
Denisov
Alexei
A
Garcia
Edmundo
E
Katzy
Judith
J
Makeev
Andrei
A
Murray
Michael
M
White
Sebastian
S