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pairs may be produced in photonuclear collisions, either from the decays of photoproducedmesons or directly as nonresonantpairs. Measurements ofphotoproduction probe the couplings between theand charged kaons with photons and nuclear targets. The kaon-proton scattering occurs at energies far above those available elsewhere. We present the first measurement of coherent photoproduction ofpairs on lead ions in ultraperipheral collisions using the ALICE detector, including the first investigation of directproduction. There is significantproduction at low transverse momentum, consistent with coherent photoproduction on lead targets. In the mass rangeabove theresonance, for rapidityand, the measured coherent photoproduction cross section is. The center-of-mass energy per nucleon of the photon-nucleus (Pb) systemranges from 33 to 188 GeV, far higher than previous measurements on heavy-nucleus targets. The cross section is larger than expected forphotoproduction alone. The mass spectrum is fit to a cocktail consisting ofdecays, directphotoproduction, and interference between the two. The confidence regions for the amplitude and relative phase angle for directphotoproduction are presented.
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