Particle emission following Coulomb excitation in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions - art. no. 044901

We study nuclear reactions induced by virtual photons associated with Loren tz-boosted Coulomb fields of ultrarelativistic heavy ions. Evaporation, fis sion, and multifragmentation mechanisms are included in a new RELDIS code, which describes the deexcitation of residual nuclei formed after single and double photon absorption in peripheral heavy-ion collisions. Partial cross sections for different dissociation channels, including the multiple neutr on emission ones, are calculated and compared with data when available. Rap idity and transverse momentum distributions of nucleons, nuclear fragments, and pions, produced electromagnetically, are also calculated. These result s provide important information for designing large-rapidity detectors and zero-degree calorimeters at the relativistic heavy-ion colliders. The elect romagnetic dissociation of nuclei imposes some constraints on the investiga tion of exotic particle production in yy fusion reactions. [S0556-2813(99)0 1909-3].