Mapping color fluctuations in the photon in ultraperipheral heavy ion collisions at the Large Hadron Collider

Abstract

We model effects of color fluctuations (CFs) in the light-cone photon wave function and for the first time make predictions for the distribution over the number of wounded nucleons ν in the inelastic photon–nucleus scattering. We show that CFs lead to a dramatic enhancement of this distribution at ν=1 and large ν>10. We also study the implications of different scales and CFs in the photon wave function on the total transverse energy ΣET and other observables in inelastic γA scattering with different triggers. Our predictions can be tested in proton–nucleus and nucleus–nucleus ultraperipheral collisions at the LHC and will help to map CFs, whose first indications have already been observed at the LHC.