A generator of forward neutrons for ultra-peripheral collisions: nOOn

The study of photon-induced reactions in collisions of heavy nuclei at RHIC and the LHC has become an important direction of the research program of these facilities in recent years. In particular, the production of vector mesons in ultra-peripheral collisions (UPC) has been intensively studied. Owing to the intense photon fluxes, the two nuclei participating in such processes undergo electromagnetic dissociation producing neutrons at beam rapidities. Here, we introduce the nOOn (pronounced noon) Monte Carlo program, which generates events containing such neutrons. nOOn is a ROOT based program that can be interfaced with existing generators of vector meson production in UPC or with theoretical calculations of such photonuclear processes. nOOn can also be easily integrated with the simulation programs of the experiments at RHIC and the LHC.