{
  "abstract": "Ultra-relativistic heavy nuclei traversing a solid target undergo successive nuclear encounters separated by atomic lattice spacings. At sufficiently high beam energies, Lorentz contraction reduces the proper time between collisions to $\\mathcal{O}(10^4)$~fm$/c$ in the center-of-mass frame of the first interaction. We then consider the fragmentation region of this first collision, and show that short-lived hadrons produced in this region, with additional Lorentz boost, can reach the next nucleus before decaying. We show that this geometry enables secondary hadron--nucleus collisions involving species that cannot be realized as conventional secondary beams or in subsequent hadron--nucleus interactions in cosmic-ray cascades. For a $2.76$ TeV-per-nucleon Pb beam incident on a solid Pb lattice, we determine which forward-produced hadrons can survive to a second interaction, estimate their collision probabilities, and analyze potential observable consequences. In particular, we identify some representative hadrons whose proper lifetimes are of order $10^3$ fm/c, e.g. specific mesons ($η^\\prime$) and heavy-flavor resonances ($J/ψ, D^*(2010)$), as projectile species that become accessible through this collision space-time geometry. At substantially higher beam energies (for example, with 10 TeV per-nucleon Pb beam), the survival probabilities are significantly enhanced. This can make even very short lived hadrons with life times of few tens fm ( $Ξ(1530)$, $ω(782)$, $ϕ(1020)$) available for this secondary hadron-nucleus collision, providing an additional motivation for future ultra-relativistic fixed-target heavy-ion experiments.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": "Journal reference: Phys.Rev.C 114 (2026) 3, 034915",
  "arxiv": "2607.08658",
  "author_total": 3,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Sanatan Digal"
    },
    {
      "name": "P. S. Saumia"
    },
    {
      "name": "Ajit M. Srivastava"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/2qh62gfxr3psy.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2607.08658",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "2qh62gfxr3psy",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.08658",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "nucl-ex"
    ],
    [
      "arxiv",
      "nucl-th"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": null,
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2607.08658",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-23",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/2qh62gfxr3psy.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:23:56Z",
      "native_id": "2607.08658",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.08658"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:nucl-ex",
      "subfield": "nuclear"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Secondary Hadron--Nucleus Collisions of Short-Lived Hadrons in Ultra-Relativistic Fixed-Target Heavy-Ion Interactions",
  "title_text": "Secondary Hadron--Nucleus Collisions of Short-Lived Hadrons in Ultra-Relativistic Fixed-Target Heavy-Ion Interactions",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:23:56Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/2qh62gfxr3psy",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": [
    {
      "doi": "10.1103/j659-ht4f",
      "pid": null,
      "relation": "published-as",
      "title": null,
      "venue": null
    }
  ]
}