Particle emission following Coulomb excitation in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions

We study nuclear reactions induced by virtual photons associated with Lorentz-boosted Coulomb fields of ultrarelativistic heavy ions. Evaporation, fission, and multifragmentation mechanisms are included in a new RELDIS code, which describes the deexcitation of residual nuclei formed after single and double photon absorption in peripheral heavy-ion collisions. Partial cross sections for different dissociation channels, including the multiple neutron emission ones, are calculated and compared with data when available. Rapidity and transverse momentum distributions of nucleons, nuclear fragments, and pions, produced electromagnetically, are also calculated. These results provide important information for designing large-rapidity detectors and zero-degree calorimeters at the relativistic heavy-ion colliders. The electromagnetic dissociation of nuclei imposes some constraints on the investigation of exotic particle production in $\gamma \gamma$ fusion reactions.