Hydrogenlike atoms from ultrarelativistic nuclear collisions

The number of hydrogenlike atoms produced when heavy nuclei collide is estimated for central collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider using the sudden approximation of Baym et al. As first suggested by Schwartz, a simultaneous measurement of the hydrogen and hadron spectra will allow an inference of the electron or muon spectra at low momentum where a direct experimental measurement is not feasible.