Ultraperipheral vs. Ordinary Nuclear Interactions

摘要

It is argued that the cross sections of ultraperipheral interactions of heavy nuclei can become comparable in value to those of their ordinary hadronic interactions at high energies. Simple estimates of corresponding “preasymptotic energy thresholds” are provided. The method of equivalent photons is compared with the perturbative approach. The situation at NICA/FAIR energies is discussed.