Physics potential of a combined data taking of the LHCf and ATLAS Roman Pot detectors

Measurements of particle spectra in the forward region are a crucial input for the phenomenological models of strong interactions in the soft regime. These models have large impact in the analysis of air showers induced by cosmic ray particles colliding with atmospheric nuclei. Neutral particles created in such an interaction with low momentum exchange at the LHC can be detected by calorimeters covering the $0^{\circ}$ angle, such as the LHCf and ZDC calorimeters. Charged particles cannot reach those detectors as they are deflected by the LHC magnet system. However, dedicated detector systems close to the beam line are capable of detecting protons with low transverse momenta that are either produced or scattered in a collision event at high pseudorapidities. In the vicinity of the ATLAS detector there are two of these so-called roman pot systems, namely AFP and ALFA. Up to now, analyses of forward physics processes have only been performed based on data taken separately by either the roman pot detectors or the forward calorimeters. However, having information of both systems simultaneously could improve the identification of individual processes and kinematic event reconstruction. In this talk, the physics potential of a combined data-taking during run 3 will be discussed, focusing on single diffraction events and the production of excited proton states decaying into a proton and a $\pi^{0}$ meson.