Highly charged relativistic heavy ions have high cross sections for two-photon interactions. The photon flux is high enough that two-photon interactions may be accompanied by additional photonuclear interactions. Except for the shared impact parameter, these interactions are independent. Additional interactions like mutual Coulomb excitation are of experimental interest, because the neutrons from the nuclear dissociation provide a simple, relatively unbiased trigger. We calculate the cross sections, rapidity, mass, and transverse momentum $(p_T)$ distributions for exclusive $\gamma \gamma$ production of mesons and lepton pairs and for $\gamma \gamma$ reactions accompanied by mutual Coulomb dissociation. The cross sections for $\gamma \gamma$ interactions accompanied by multiple neutron emission $(\mathit{XnXn})$ and single-neutron emission ($1n1n$) are about $1/10$ and $1/100$ of that for the unaccompanied $\gamma \gamma$ interactions. We discuss the accuracy with which these cross sections may be calculated. The typical $p_T$ of $\gamma \gamma$ final states is several times smaller than for comparable coherent photonuclear interactions, so $p_T$ may be an effective tool for separating the two classes of interactions.

• Received 8 July 2009

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.80.044902