Measurement of the electromagnetic dissociation cross section of Pb nuclei at \sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 2.76 TeV
Measurement of the electromagnetic dissociation cross section of Pb nuclei at \sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 2.76 TeV
Electromagnetic dissociation of heavy nuclei in ultra-peripheral interactions at high energies can be used to monitor the beam luminosity at colliders. In ALICE, neutrons emitted by the excited nuclei close to beam rapidity are detected by the zero-degree calorimeters (ZDCs), providing a precise measurement of the event rate. During the …