# Evidence for light-by-light scattering and searches for axion-like particles in ultraperipheral PbPb collisions at sNN=5.02TeV

The CMS collaboration

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86 Scopus citations

## Abstract

Evidence for the light-by-light scattering process, γγ→γγ, in ultraperipheral PbPb collisions at a centre-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of 5.02TeV is reported. The analysis is conducted using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 390μb−1 recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC. Light-by-light scattering processes are selected in events with two photons exclusively produced, each with transverse energy ET γ>2GeV, pseudorapidity |ηγ|<2.4, diphoton invariant mass mγγ>5GeV, diphoton transverse momentum pT γγ<1GeV, and diphoton acoplanarity below 0.01. After all selection criteria are applied, 14 events are observed, compared to expectations of 9.0±0.9(theo) events for the signal and 4.0±1.2(stat) for the background processes. The excess observed in data relative to the background-only expectation corresponds to a significance of 3.7 standard deviations, and has properties consistent with those expected for the light-by-light scattering signal. The measured fiducial light-by-light scattering cross section, σfid(γγ→γγ)=120±46(stat)±28(syst)±12(theo)nb, is consistent with the standard model prediction. The mγγ distribution is used to set new exclusion limits on the production of pseudoscalar axion-like particles, via the (Figure presented.) process, in the mass range (Figure presented.).

Original language English 134826 Physics Letters, Section B: Nuclear, Elementary Particle and High-Energy Physics 797 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2019.134826 Published - 10 Oct 2019

## Keywords

• CMS
• Light-by-light
• PbPb
• Photoproduction
• UPC

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