Photon-photon collisions at the LHC

by Dr Lucian Harland-Lang (University College London)

Thursday 6 Oct 2016, 14:00 → 15:00 Europe/London

OC218 (IPPP, Durham)

I will discuss the possibilities for using the LHC as a photon colliding machine. The photon must in general be included in addition to the quarks and gluons as a parton in the proton. I will demonstrate that, despite indications from earlier studies, the photon parton density in the proton is quite precisely known and consider the implications for LHC (and FCC) phenomenology. In addition, the colour singlet nature of the photon means that it can readily lead to exclusive or semi-exclusive events, with limited or no extra particle production in the final state. I will show how such exclusive processes, in particular in combination with proton tagging measurements, provide a well understood environment in which to test the Standard Model and search for BSM physics.

Slides Harland-Lang-compressed.pdf