Proton-proton correlations: Determination of the source size and lifetime from deep inelastic collisions of 58Ni+58Ni at 15 MeV/nucleon.

Abstract

Triple (p-p-fragment) coincidences from the $^{58}\mathrm{Ni}$${+}^{58}$Ni reaction at 850 MeV have been measured. By detecting the source of the emitted particles we were able to study the directional dependence of the p-p correlation function. From this dependence both the source size (${\mathit{r}}_{0}$) and the particle emission time (\ensuremath{\tau}) have been extracted. The extracted p-p correlation functions could be fitted with source size and lifetime in the range of 3.${3}_{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}0.7}^{+1.3}$ fm and 3.${2}_{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}2.2}^{+1.3}$\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}22}$ s, respectively.