Coherent photoproduction processes in hadronic heavy-ion collisions

Recently, significant abnormal enhancements in J/ψ and dilepton production have been observed in peripheral heavy-ion collisions at very low transverse momentum by the STAR, ALICE and ATLAS Collaborations. The observed excesses cannot be explained by hadronic production combined with the cold and hot medium effects, though it can be well described by coherent photoproduction calculations with nuclear overlap. These experimental and theoretical results provide evidence of coherent photoproduction in hadronic heavy-ion collisions, which suggest novel probes for detecting the properties of quark-gluon plasma (QGP). In this work, we review recent experimental and theoretical progress regarding coherent photoproduction in hadronic heavy-ion collisions.