Abstract

We study the photoabsorption reaction and real Compton scattering within the color dipole model. We rely on a photon wave function derived in the instanton-vacuum model and on the energy-dependent phenomenological elastic dipole amplitude. Data for the photoabsorption cross section at high energies agree with our parameter-free calculations. We also provide predictions for the differential real Compton scattering cross section. Although no data for small angle Compton scattering are available so far, this process can be measured in ultraperipheral hadronic and nuclear collisions at the LHC. © 2009 The American Physical Society.