Electromagnetic production of heavy leptons in relativistic heavy ion collisions.

Abstract

Using the equivalent photon method, the cross sections for muon- and tau-pair production in relativistic heavy ion collisions are calculated. A simple analytical formula is obtained, valid for the relativistic Lorentz factor \ensuremath{\gamma}\ensuremath{\lesssim}16 for muon-pair and \ensuremath{\gamma}\ensuremath{\lesssim}270 for tau-pair production. The absolute values of the pair production cross sections are found to be very small, quite in contrast to the case of electron-positron pair production.