Three-pion interferometry of relativistic nuclear collisions
Abstract
Three-pion interferometry is investigated for new information on the space-time structure of the pion source created in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions. The two- and three-pion correlations are numerically computed for incoherent source functions based on the Bjorken hydrodynamical model, over a wide range of the kinematic variables. New information provided by three-pion interferometry, different from that provided by two-pion interferometry, should appear in the phases of the Fourier transform of the source function. Variables are identified that would be sensitive to the phases and suitable for observation. For a positive, chaotic source function, however, a variation of the three-pion phase is found to be difficult to extract from experiments. Effects of asymmetry of the source function are also examined.
- Publication:
-
Physical Review C
- Pub Date:
- December 1999
- DOI:
- 10.1103/PhysRevC.60.064904
- arXiv:
- arXiv:nucl-th/9909043
- Bibcode:
- 1999PhRvC..60f4904N
- Keywords:
-
- 25.75.Gz;
- Particle correlations;
- Nuclear Theory
- E-Print:
- 19 pages, 16 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev. C