Electromagnetic Interactions of Nuclei at the FCC-hh Collider

Abstract

At the Future Circular Collider (FCC-hh) at CERN in addition to proton-proton collisions it is planned to study interactions of 208Pb nuclei with the collision energy $$\sqrt {{{s}_{{NN}}}} = 39.4$$ TeV, which is 7–8 times higher than that achieved at the LHC. The electromagnetic dissociation (EMD) of $$^{{208}}$$ Pb nuclei, along with the electron capture resulting from the multiple production of e $$^{ + }$$ e $$^{ - }$$ pairs in ultraperipheral collisions at the LHC, lead to a significant luminosity decay, and secondary ions impose a well localized thermal load on superconducting magnets. As expected, such effects are reduced in collisions of light and medium nuclei. In the present work the EMD cross sections for collisions of $$^{{40}}$$ Ar, $$^{{40}}$$ Ca, $$^{{63}}$$ Cu, $$^{{78}}$$ Kr, $$^{{84}}$$ Kr, $$^{{115}}$$ In, $$^{{129}}$$ Xe, $$^{{208}}$$ Pb and $$^{{238}}$$ U at the LHC and the planned FCC-hh were calculated in order to assess the operation conditions of the colliders. The results were compared with results of the RELDIS model, and the uncertainties of calculations of the EMD cross sections associated with using of various approximations of the total nuclear photoabsorption cross sections were estimated.