Abstract
We present detailed calculations about the expected shape of two-pion Bose-Einstein [or Hanbury-Brown--Twiss (HBT)] correlations in high energy heavy ion collisions that include a realistic treatment of final state Coulomb interaction as well as strong interactions (dominated by $s$-wave scattering). We assume L\'evy type source functions, a generalization that goes beyond the Gaussian approximation. Various recent experimental results found the use of such source types necessary to properly describe the shape of the measured correlation functions. We find that strong interaction effects for like-sign pions are small, but their consideration may become important in future precision measurements, especially if one considers source parameters beyond the Gaussian HBT radii. Precise experimental determination of these source parameters (such as L\'evy stability exponent, correlation strength, etc.) may then benefit from the inclusion of the treatment of strong interaction not just for heavier particles (e.g., protons, $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}\mathrm{s}$) but also in case of two-pion measurements.
Highlights
Heavy ion physics strives to understand the properties of strongly interacting matter produced in high energy nuclear collisions
One of the key observables suited for the experimental investigation of the space-time geometry of such collision events is the femtoscopic correlation of produced particles
In conjunction with the discovery of the strongly interacting quark-gluon plasma by the experiments at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider [3,4,5,6] a renewed interest arose in the investigation of femtoscopic correlations
Summary
Heavy ion physics strives to understand the properties of strongly interacting matter produced in high energy nuclear collisions. For many years the usual assumption for the source shape was Gaussian This was corroborated by phenomenological studies such as hydrodynamical model calculations Recent results by the PHENIX experiment [13] showed that by utilizing Lévy type sources one can provide an acceptable description of the measured correlations These type of source functions are expected to emerge from a scenario called anomalous diffusion [14], but there are other possible competing explanations such as jet fragmentation [15] or critical behavior [16]. In this paper we present a detailed calculation of the shape of two-pion Hanbury-Brown–Twiss (HBT) correlation functions with the assumption of Lévy stable source functions taking into account Coulomb and strong final state interactions.
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