Electron-positron pair production in Coulomb collisions of ultrarelativistic sulfur ions with fixed targets

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Abstract
Angular and momentum distributions have been measured for positrons from electron-positron pairs created in peripheral collisions of 6.4-TeV sulfur ions with fixed targets of Al, Pd, and Au. The data are compared with results of several theoretical treatments. Measured differential cross sections peak at low momentum (≤1 MeV/c), extend significantly to much higher momenta (>17 MeV/c), and concentrate sharply in the forward direction, along the ion-beam axis. Positron yields scale as the square of the target nuclear charge as predicted by theory.