Exclusive vector meson production in heavy ion collisions

Abstract

We discuss the salient features of exclusive vector meson production in heavy ion collisions at LHC energies. Special attention is paid to the space-time picture of the process. We account for both coherent and incoherent contributions. The explicit quantitative predictions are given for the $\rho$-meson differential cross section in lead-lead collisions in different kinematical configurations relevant for the LHCb and ALICE experiments.

Comments: 16 pages, 7 figures, text, references and figures 5 and 6 improved