Feasibility Studies for Ultraperipheral Collision Physics in sPHENIX

Ultraperipheral Collisions (UPC's) are collisions where two ions in a collider are separated by more than the ion radius. Instead of a direct collision between the two ions, the particles interact via electromagnetic and photonuclear exchanges. The sPHENIX experiment is an upgrade of the PHENIX experiment which will increase the data acquisition (DAQ) rate capability. sPHENIX will collect significantly more data about the Quark Gluon Plasma, which is created in RHIC's particle smashups. To best exploit this capability, triggers need to be devised so that we can accurately identify special events such as the creation of UPC J/Psi particles and record those events. I analyzed simulations of UPC events in the sPHENIX detector to devise triggers that have good efficiency and low noise. Additionally, I have studied the feasibility of sPHENIX to measure various UPC physics channels. I have determined the acceptance for the UPC J/Psi events in the sPHENIX detector, establishing that sPHENIX will have substantial statistics for a UPC J/Psi analysis. These feasibility studies will promote research towards the understanding of photoproduction in heavy ion collisions.