It can simulate multiple interactions among a single ion pair, such as vector meson photoproduction accompanied by mutual Coulomb excitation.
[4] STARlight has been used by both STAR and PHENIX, at RHIC, and at the ALICE, CMS, ATLAS and LHC-b experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, for simulations of ultra-peripheral collisions.
STARlight is designed to handle complex reactions involving multiple photon exchange between a single ion pair.
These reactions are important at heavy ion colliders, because, with the large nuclear charges, the probability of multi-photon interactions in near grazing collisions (impact parameter b just slightly above twice the nuclear radius) is large.
[8] It also accurately predicted the cross-section for e+e− pair production at RHIC[9] and the LHC,[10] using lowest order quantum electrodynamics.