Electromagnetic pair production in relativistic heavy-ion collisions

Abstract

We survey the production of electron, muon and tauon pairs in collisions between nuclei at ultrarelativistic energies. Such studies enhance our understanding of the role of the vacuum in field theory, and provide essential input for several experimental programs. A variety of models for the nuclear and nucleon form factors have been considered, revealing some degree of sensitivity to assumptions about subnuclear structure. We predict that the cross sections, even at high invariant masses and transverse momenta, are large on hadronic scales, and should act as useful probes of nuclear and nucleon form factors.