Pion Interferometry in 158 GeV/nucleon Pb+Pb Collisions: Recent Results from NA44
Abstract
NA44 utilizes the 158 GeV/nucleon Pb beam at the CERN SPS to study nuclear matter under extreme conditions. These conditions may allow for the creation of a new form of matter (the Quark-Gluon Plasma). NA44 measures hadronic observables at mid-rapidity with the goal of understanding the state of the system at freeze out. Specifically, two particle correlations are used to study the space-time geometry of the system at hadronization. Recent NA44 results on π^+π^+ and π^-π^- correlations will be presented. The pt dependence of the extracted radii will be examined with the aim of understanding the transverse expansion of the system at hadronization. The centrality dependence of the pion correlation functions will also be examined. Non-geometrical centrality dependences of the extracted radii could signal the onset of new physics. Finally, the effect of the residual net nuclear charge on the correlation functions will be addressed through a comparison of the π^+π^+ and π^-π^- systems.
- Publication:
-
APS April Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- April 1997
- Bibcode:
- 1997APS..APR..K804H