Production of light pseudoscalar particles in heavy-ion collisions

Abstract

We calculate the cross section for the production of a hypothetical light neutral pseudoscalar particle in heavy-ion collisions due to the two-photon process. For an inverse coupling strength f in the 100-GeV range we predict a cross section of ${10}^{\mathrm{-}14}$ ${\mathrm{fm}}^2$ for production of a particle with 1.5-MeV mass. For the maximal allowed coupling f=5 MeV and an effective reduction of the particle mass due to binding the cross section may reach in to the μb range.