Coherent γγ and γA interactions in very peripheral collisions at relativistic ion colliders

Due to coherence, there are strong electromagnetic fields of short duration in very peripheral collisions. They give rise to photon-photon and photon-nucleus collisions with a high flux up to an invariant mass region hitherto unexplored experimentally. After a general survey of the field equivalent photon numbers and photon-photon luminosities, especially for relativistic heavy ion collisions, are discussed. Special care needs to be taken to include the effects of the strong interaction and nuclear size in this case. Photon-photon and photon-hadron physics at various invariant mass scales are then discussed. The maximum equivalent photon energy in the lab-system (collider frame) are typically of the order of 3 GeV for RHIC and 100 GeV for LHC. Diffractive processes are an important background process. Lepton pair, especially electron-positron pair production is copious. Due to the strong fields there will be new phenomena, like multiple e(+)e(-) pair production. The experimental techniques to select gammagamma-processes are finally discussed together with important background processes. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.