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Workshop on Photoproduction at collider energies:
from RHIC and HERA to LHC ECT* - Trento, January 15-19, 2007 workshop description
Photon-induced collisions at high-energy have received much recent theoretical and experimental attention as a fruitful tool to investigate strong and electromagnetic interactions. These collisions complement studies in , deep-inelastic scattering, as well as and collisions. At the HERA collider, photon-hadron processes provide precise information on QCD (parton evolution at low- , hadronic structure of the photon, ...) via measurements of inclusive hard photoproduction (heavy-flavour, jets, prompt photons ...) and exclusive diffractive vector meson production. Beams of protons and heavy-ions at BNL-RHIC ( = 200 GeV) and CERN-LHC energies( = 5.5 - 14 TeV) generate also strong electromagnetic fields which correspond to a high flux of equivalent photons with maximum energies: 3, 100 GeV respectively, which open up the possibility to study and - processes in a kinematic regime ( 1 TeV) so far unexplored. At RHIC, coherent photonuclear production of and , as well as photon-photon production of pairs has been studied in ultraperipheral collisions (UPC) of gold nuclei. Quarkonium production in collisions at RHIC and LHC energies is an excellent probe of the gluon distribution function in nuclei providing a complementary tool to study parton saturation effects at low- .
At Tevatron and the LHC, the study of inclusive and diffractive (photon- and Pomeron-induced)
processes, - characterized by protons or ions emitted in the forward direction, rapidity gap(s), and a
cluster of produced particles at central rapidities -, is the subject of a vigorous scientific
programme not only centered on QCD but also on Higgs and beyond-SM signals.
After 6 years of rich physics operation at HERA-II and RHIC, and less than one year before the start of the LHC, it seems a timely moment to have a workshop, gathering both theorists and experimentalists, to discuss the current status of investigations of photon-induced processes at RHIC, HERA and Tevatron and preparations for extension of these studies in and collisions at the LHC. We are planning on a series of overview talks on these subjects, with plenty of time for discussion.
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