Hydrogenlike atoms from ultrarelativistic nuclear collisions

The number of hydrogenlike atoms produced when heavy nuclei collide is esti mated for central collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider using t he sudden approximation of Baym et al. As first suggested by Schwartz, a si multaneous measurement of the hydrogen and hadron spectra will allow an inf erence of the electron or muon spectra at low momentum where a direct exper imental measurement is not feasible. [S0556-2813(99)03605-5].