Rapidity correlations in ultra-relativistic nuclear collisions

Abstract

I begin with a brief motivation for rapidity correlation studies in nuclear collisions. I show that all currently used rapidity correlation functions are essentially equivalent to the two‐particle correlation function. I explain why I recommended split‐bin correlation functions for maximal use of data; I also relate these to the two‐particle correlation function. I then discuss a recently proposed technique for measuring velocities of particle sources (relative to the particle emission velocity).