Production ofe+e−pairs accompanied by nuclear dissociation in ultraperipheral heavy-ion collisions

We present the first data on e{sup +}e{sup -} pair production accompanied by nuclear breakup in ultra-peripheral gold-gold collisions at a center of mass energy of 200 GeV per nucleon pair. The nuclear breakup requirement selects events at small impact parameters, where higher-order corrections to the pair production cross section should be enhanced. We compare the pair kinematic distributions with two calculations: one based on the equivalent photon approximation, and the other using lowest-order quantum electrodynamics (QED); the latter includes the photon virtuality. The cross section, pair mass, rapidity and angular distributions are in good agreement with both calculations. The pair transverse momentum, p{sub T}, spectrum agrees with the QED calculation, but not with the equivalent photon approach. We set limits on higher-order contributions to the cross section. The e{sup +} and e{sup -} p{sub T} spectra are similar, with no evidence for interference effects due to higher-order diagrams.