We study the intensity interferometry with lepton pairs for nuclear collisions at RHIC and LHC energies. It is argued that the invariant mass dependence of HBT radii extracted from the correlation functions of dilepton pairs can be used as an efficient tool to scale the size and life time of the quark gluon plasma expected to be formed in nuclear collisions at RHIC and LHC. Quantitatively different magnitudes of HBT radii are obtained at RHIC and LHC indicating stronger radial flow at LHC.
I review the history of HBT interferometry, since its discovery in the mid 1950's, up to the recent developments and results from BNL/RHIC experiments. I focus the discussion on the contributions to the subject given by members of our Brazilian group.
We discuss potential attainability by the Hanbury Brown and Twiss (HBT) interferometry of photons to probe the spacetime geometry of the primordial plasma created by ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions. A possible effect to distort the HBT image is due to an interaction between emitted photon and an extremely strong magnetic field induced by the colliding heavy nuclei in the peripheral collisions. We examine the effects of variation of the refraction index in the strong magnetic field that is called the vacuum birefringence.
The validity of using a pion optical potential to incorporate the effects of final state interactions on HBT interferometry is investigated. We find that if the optical potential is real, the standard formalism is modified as previously described in the literature. However, if the optical potential is complex, a new term involving pion emission from eliminated states must be included. The size of such effects in previous work by Cramer and Miller is assessed.
We discuss predictions for the pion and kaon interferometry measurements in relativistic heavy ion collisions at SPS and RHIC energies. In particular, we confront relativistic transport model calculations that include explicitly a first-order phase transition from a thermalized quark-gluon plasma to a hadron gas with recent data from the RHIC experiments. We critically examine the "HBT-puzzle" both from the theoretical as well as from the experimental point of view. Alternative scenarios are briefly explained.
We study the HBT interferometry of ultra-relativistic nuclear collisions using a freezeout model in which free pions emerge in the course of the last binary collisions in the hadron gas. We show that the HBT correlators of both identical and non-identical pions change with respect to the case of independent pion production. Practical consequences for the design of the event generator with the built in Bose-Einstein correlations are discussed. We argue that the scheme of inclusive measurement of the HBT correlation function does not require the symmetrization of the multi-pion transition amplit…
The PHENIX Collaboration has reported third-order harmonic oscillations of the source radius parameters when measuring the Hanbury Brown-Twiss correlation function for charged hadrons relative to the triangular flow angle. We explore possible origins of such third-order oscillations with a simple Gaussian source featuring both a triangular geometric deformation and triangular flow. Third-order oscillations of the HBT radii can arise from a purely geometric triangular deformation superimposed on an azimuthally symmetric radial flow, or from a radially symmetry spatial distribution which expands…
Hadrons formed in heavy-ion collisions are not point-like objects, they cannot occupy too close space-time points. When the two bosons are too close to each other, their constituents start to mix and they cannot be considered as bosons subjected to Bose-Einstein statistics, this effect is called excluded volume effect. We study the volume effect on HBT for the sources with various sizes. The effect on HBT was shown in out, side and long directions, and it is more obvious for the source with a narrow space-time distribution. The correlation functions for high transverse momenta are more suppres…
Intensity interferometry in noncentral heavy ion collisions provides access to novel information on the geometry of the effective pion-emitting source. We demonstrate analytically that, even for vanishing pair momentum, the cross terms $R_{ol}^2$ and $R_{sl}^2$ of the HBT correlation function in general show a strong first harmonic in their azimuthal dependence. The strength of this oscillation characterizes the tilt of the major axis of the spatial emission ellipsoid away from the direction of the beam. Event generator studies indicate that this tilt can be large (>20 degrees) at AGS energies…
Hanbury Brown--Twiss interferometry (HBT) provides crucial insights into both the space-time structure and the momentum-space evolution of ultrarelativistic nuclear collisions at freeze-out. In particular, the dependence of the HBT radii on the transverse pair momentum $K_T$ and the system charged multiplicity $dN_{\mathrm{ch}}/dη$ may reflect the mechanisms driving collective behavior in small systems. This paper argues that certain features observed in the multiplicity dependence of the HBT radii can be naturally understood if small systems evolve hydrodynamically at high-multiplicity. This …
In the late stage of the evolution of a pion system in high-energy heavy-ion collisions when pions undergo multiple scatterings, the quantum transport of the interfering pair of identical pions plays an important role in determining the characteristics of the Hanbury-Brown-Twiss (HBT) interference. We study the quantum transport of the interfering pair using the path-integral method, in which the evolution of the bulk matter is described by relativistic hydrodynamics while the paths of the two interfering pions by test particles following the fluid positions and velocity fields. We investigate…
Currently, the only known way to obtain experimental information about the space-time structure of a heavy-ion collision is through 2-particle momentum correlations. Azimuthally sensitive HBT interferometry (Hanbury Brown-Twiss intensity interferometry) can complement elliptic flow measurements by constraining the spatial deformation of the source and its time evolution. Performing these measurements on photons allows us to access the fireball evolution at earlier times than with hadrons. Using ideal hydrodynamics to model the space-time evolution of the collision fireball, we explore theoreti…
We calculate the two-pion correlation function for an expanding hadron source with a finite baryon density. The space-time evolution of the source is described by relativistic hydrodynamics and the Hanbury-Brown-Twiss (HBT) radius is extracted after effects of collective expansion and multiple scattering on the HBT interferometry have been taken into account, using quantum probability amplitudes in a path-integral formalism. We find that this radius is substantially smaller than the HBT radius extracted from the freeze-out configuration.
The space-time evolution of the (1+1)-dimensional viscous hydrodynamics with an initial quark-gluon plasma (QGP) produced in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions is studied numerically. The particle-emitting sources undergo a crossover transition from the QGP to hadronic gas. We take into account a usual shear viscosity for the strongly coupled QGP as well as the bulk viscosity which increases significantly in the crossover region. The two-pion Hanbury-Brown-Twiss (HBT) interferometry for the viscous hydrodynamic sources is performed. The HBT analyses indicate that the viscosity effect on th…
Hydrodynamical models have generally failed to describe interferometry radii measured at RHIC. In order to investigate this ``HBT puzzle'', we carry out a systematic study of HBT radii in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions within a two-dimensional transport model. We compute the transverse radii $R_o$ and $R_s$ as functions of $p_t$ for various values of the Knudsen number, which measures the degree of thermalization in the system. For realistic values of the Knudsen number estimated from $v_2$ data, we obtain $R_o/R_s \simeq 1.2$, much closer to data than standard hydrodynamical results. …
Based on the updated UrQMD transport model, the effect of the symmetry potential energy on the two-nucleon HBT correlation is investigated with the help of the coalescence program for constructing clusters, and the CRAB analyzing program of the two-particle HBT correlation. An obvious non-linear dependence of the neutron-proton (or neutron-neutron) HBT correlation function ($C_{np,nn}$) at small relative momenta on the stiffness factor $γ$ of the symmetry potential energy is found: when $γ\lesssim 0.8$, the $C_{np,nn}$ increases rapidly with increasing $γ$, while it starts to saturate if $γ\gt…
Expansion dynamics at the yoctosecond timescale affect the evolution of the quark gluon plasma (QGP) created in heavy ion collisions. We show how these dynamics are accessible through Hanbury Brown and Twiss (HBT) intensity interferometry of direct photons emitted from the interior of the QGP. A detector placed close to the beam axis is particularly sensitive to early polar momentum anisotropies of the QGP. Observing a modification of the HBT signal at the proposed FoCal detector of the LHC ALICE experiment would allow to measure the isotropization time of the plasma and could provide first ex…
To extract information on hadron production dynamics in the ultrarelativistic heavy ion collision, the space-time structure of the hadron source has been measured using Hanbury Brown and Twiss interferometry. We study the distortion of the source images due to the effect of a final state interaction. We describe the interaction, taking place during penetrating through a cloud formed by evaporating particles, in terms of a one-body mean field potential localized in the vicinity of the source region. By adopting the semiclassical method, the modification of the propagation of an emitted particle…
We present the Yano-Koonin-Podgoretskii parametrisation of the correlation function. Compared to the conventionally used Cartesian parametrisation, this one provides more straightforward measurement of the duration of the emission process in the fireball and a clearer signal of the longitudinal expansion, which is expected in ulrarelativistic heavy ion collisions.
A method allowing studies of the hadronic matter at the early evolution stage in A+A collisions is developed. It is based on an interferometry analysis of approximately conserved values such as the averaged phase-space density (APSD) and the specific entropy of thermal pions. The plateau found in the APSD behavior vs collision energy at SPS is associated, apparently, with the deconfinement phase transition at low SPS energies; a saturation of this quantity at the RHIC energies indicates the limiting Hagedorn temperature for hadronic matter. It is shown that if the cubic power of effective temp…
The Hanbury-Brown-Twiss (HBT) radii have been calculated from the two particle correlation functions with virtual photons produced in the collisions of two nuclei at ultra-relativistic energies. We show that the variation of the HBT radii with the invariant mass of the virtual photon can be used to characterize and distinguish the hadronic as well as the partonic phase that might have produced initially in the collisions. It has been illustrated that the non-monotonic variation of the HBT radii with invariant mass provides an access to the development of collective flow in the system.
The effect of initial state momentum-space anisotropy on invariant mass dependence of HBT radii extracted from the leptonpair interferometry is presented here. We have studied the Bose-Einstein Correlation Function (BECF) for two identical virtual photons decaying to leptonpairs at most central collision of LHC energy having fixed transverse momentum of one of the virtual photons ($k_{1T}$= 2 GeV). The {\em free streaming interpolating} model with fixed initial condition has been used for the evolution in anisotropic Quark Gluon Plasma (aQGP) and the relativistic (1+2)d hydrodynamics model wit…
We study effects of a mean-field interaction on the spacetime geometry of the hadron source measured by utilizing the Hanbury Brown and Twiss (HBT) interferometry in the ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions. We show how a modification of a pion amplitude, caused in the freeze-out process, is incorporated into the correlation function of the interferometry within a semiclassical method. Profiles of the distorted images are illustrated. To make a quantitative estimate of the effects, we construct a mean-field-interaction model on the basis of the pion-pion scattering amplitude, and then invest…
In this paper, we continue our phenomenological studies of heavy-ion collisions using 3+1d anisotropic hydrodynamics (aHydro). In previous works, we compared quasiparticle aHydro (aHydroQP) with ALICE 2.76 TeV Pb-Pb and RHIC 200 GeV Au-Au collision results. At both energies, the agreement was quite good between aHydroQP and the experimental data for many observables. In this work, we present comparisons of the Hanbury Brown--Twiss (HBT) radii and their ratios determined using pi+ pi+ pairs produced in 200 GeV Au-Au collisions. We first present comparisons with STAR results for the HBT radii an…
We present a relativistic quantum mechanical treatment of opacity and refractive effects that allows reproduction of observables measured in two-pion (HBT) interferometry and pion spectra at RHIC. The inferred emission duration is substantial. The results are consistent with the emission of pions from a system that has a restored chiral symmetry.
We calculate the kaon HBT radius parameters for high energy heavy ion collisions, assuming a first order phase transition from a thermalized Quark-Gluon-Plasma to a gas of hadrons. At high transverse momenta K_T ~ 1 GeV/c direct emission from the phase boundary becomes important, the emission duration signal, i.e., the R_out/R_side ratio, and its sensitivity to T_c (and thus to the latent heat of the phase transition) are enlarged. Moreover, the QGP+hadronic rescattering transport model calculations do not yield unusual large radii (R_i<9fm). Finite momentum resolution effects have a strong im…
We solve analytically the ellipsoidally expanding fireball hydrodynamics with source terms in the momentum and the energy equations, using the non-relativistic approximation. We find that energy transport from high pt jets of gluons to the medium leads to a transient, exponential inflation of the fireballs created in high energy heavy ion collisions. In this transient, inflatory period, the slopes of the single particle spectra increase, while the HBT radius parameters decrease exponentially with time. This effect is shown to be similar to the development of the homogeneity of our Universe due…
Direct photon production, in $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$=200 GeV Au+Au and in $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$=2.76 TeV Pb+Pb collisions, are studied in a hydrodynamic model. Ideal hydrodynamic model, initialised to reproduce experimentally charged particle spectra in RHIC and LHC energy, also reproduces the PHENIX and ALICE measurements for the direct photon spectra in Au+Au collisions at RHIC and Pb+Pb collisions at LHC. The model however produces less elliptic flow than in experiment. Discrepancy between experiment and hydrodynamic simulation is comparatively less in Pb+Pb collisions at LHC than in Au+Au collisions at …
A review on the two-pion Hanbury-Brown-Twiss (HBT) interferometry in the granular source model of quark-gluon plasma droplets is presented. The characteristic quantities of the granular source extracted by imaging analysis are presented and compared with the HBT radii obtained by the usual Gaussian formula fit. The signals of granular sources are presented.
We investigate the measurement of Hanbury Brown-Twiss (HBT) photon correlations as an experimental tool to discriminate different sources of photon enhancement, which are proposed to simultaneously reproduce the direct photon yield and the azimuthal anisotropy measured in nuclear collisions at RHIC and the LHC. To showcase this, we consider two different scenarios in which we enhance the yields from standard hydrodynamical simulations. In the first, additional photons are produced from the early pre-equilibrium stage computed from the \textit{bottom-up} thermalization scenario. In the second, …
We investigate the two-pion interferometry in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions in the granular source model of quark-gluon plasma droplets. The pion transverse momentum spectra and HBT radii of the granular sources agree well with the experimental data of the $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200$ GeV Au-Au and $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=2.76$ TeV Pb-Pb most central collisions. In the granular source model the larger initial system breakup time may lead to the larger HBT radii $R_{\rm out}$, $R_{\rm side}$, and $R_{\rm long}$. However, the large droplet transverse expansion and limited average relative emitting time o…
We analyze the pion femtoscopy correlations in noncentral Au-Au and Pb-Pb collisions. The azimuthally sensitive Hanbury Brown-Twiss (HBT) method is used to extract the interferometry radii depending on the azimuthal angle with respect to the second and third-order event plane. The results are in semiquantitative agreement with the STAR collaboration data on the HBT radii with respect to the second-order reaction plane, with the preliminary PHENIX collaboration data on the HBT radii with respect to the third-order reaction plane in Au-Au collisions at 200GeV, and with the preliminary ALICE coll…
Recent observations of QGP-like phenomena in small collision systems like p+p and p+A collisions have questioned our understanding of the basic paradigms of high energy heavy-ion physics. A brief discussion of these new aspects in small systems which in turn influence our understanding of hard probes like heavy quarks has been provided. Furthermore, a closer observation of the two-particle Hanbury-Brown Twiss (HBT) interferometry measurements provide new insights in our understanding of medium-like phenomena in small systems. An outlook of future goals and measurements is also made.
The transverse momentum spectra, elliptic flow and interferometry radii for Pb-Pb collisions at the LHC are calculated in relativistic viscous hydrodynamics. For Glauber model initial conditions, we find that the data can be described using a small value of shear viscosity eta/s=0.08. The viscosities and the equation of state are the same as used for RHIC energies.
We investigate the two-pion interferometry in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions in the granular source model of quark-gluon plasma droplets. The pion transverse momentum spectra and HBT radii of the granular sources agree well with the experimental data of the most central Au-Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200$ GeV at RHIC and Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=2.76$ TeV at LHC. In the granular source model the larger initial system breakup time for the LHC collisions as compared to the RHIC collisions may lead to the larger HBT radii $R_{\rm out}$, $R_{\rm side}$, and $R_{\rm long}$. Ho…
A brief review is given on the discovery and the first five decades of the Hanbury Brown - Twiss effect and its generalized applications in high energy nuclear and particle physics, that includes a meta-review. Interesting and inspiring new directions are also highlighted, including for example source imaging, lepton and photon interferometry, non-Gaussian shape analysis as well as many other new directions. Existing models are compared to two-particle correlation measurements and the so-called RHIC HBT puzzle is resolved. Evidence for a (directional) Hubble flow is presented and the conclusio…
In non-central heavy ion collisions, identical two particle Hanbury-Brown/Twiss (HBT) correlations C(K,q) depend on the azimuthal direction of the pair momentum K. We investigate the consequences for a harmonic analysis of the corresponding HBT radius parameters. Our discussion includes both, a model- independent analysis of these parameters in the Gaussian approximation, and the study of a class of hydrodynamical models which mimic essential geometrical and dynamical properties of peripheral heavy ion collisions. Also, we discuss the additional geometrical and dynamical information contained …
We examine the two-pion interferometry for a granular source of quark-gluon plasma droplets. The evolution of the droplets is described by relativistic hydrodynamics with an equation of state suggested by lattice gauge results. Pions are assumed to be emitted thermally from the droplets at the freeze-out configuration characterized by a freeze-out temperature $T_f$. We find that the HBT radius $R_{out}$ decreases if the initial size of the droplets decreases. On the other hand, $R_{side}$ depends on the droplet spatial distribution and is relatively independent of the droplet size. It increase…
Based on the UrQMD transport model, the transverse momentum and the rapidity dependence of the Hanbury-Brown-Twiss (HBT) radii $R_L$, $R_O$, $R_S$ as well as the cross term $R_{OL}$ at SPS energies are investigated and compared with the experimental NA49 and CERES data. The rapidity dependence of the $R_L$, $R_O$, $R_S$ is weak while the $R_{OL}$ is significantly increased at large rapidities and small transverse momenta. The HBT "life-time" issue (the phenomenon that the calculated $\sqrt{R_O^{2}-R_S^{2}}$ value is larger than the correspondingly extracted experimental data) is also present a…
Two particle correlation data from the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider have provided detailed femtoscopic information describing the space-time structure of the emission of pions. This data had avoided description with hydrodynamic-based approaches, in contrast to the success of hydrodynamics in reproducing other classes of observables. This failure has inspired the term ``HBT puzzle'', where HBT refers to femtoscopic studies which were originally based on Hanbury-Brown Twiss interferometry. Here, the puzzle is shown to originate not from a single shortcoming of hydrodynamic models, but the co…
Hanbury-Brown--Twiss interferometry is a technique which yields effective widths (i.e., "HBT radii") of homogeneity regions in the fireballs produced in heavy ion collisions. Because the initial conditions of these collisions are stochastically fluctuating, the measured HBT radii also exhibit variation on an event-by-event basis. However, HBT measurements have, to date, been performed only on an ensemble-averaged basis, due to inherent limitations of finite particle statistics. In this paper, we show that experimental measurements to date are best characterized theoretically as weighted averag…
We use hydrodynamics to generate freeze-out configurations for non-central heavy-ion collisions at present and future collider energies. Such collisions are known to produce strong elliptic flow. The accompanying space-time structure of the source at freeze-out is analyzed using pion interferometry. Between RHIC and LHC energies the source deformation in the transverse plane changes sign. This leaves characteristic signatures in the emission angle dependence of the HBT radii.
The conditions for the HBT interferometry from stars are compared to those encountered in heavy ion reactions. As a consequence the formalism using wavepackets is developed. The modifications relative to the standard formalism with plane waves are presented, and the effects of the residual Coulomb interactions between charged pions and with the charged source are calculated.
Elliptic flow and HBT are studied for non-central relativistic nuclear collisions. Azimuthal asymmetries show up in both elliptic flow and HBT radii and are calculated in both collisionless and hydrodynamic limits relevant for peripheral and central collisions respectively. Determining the reaction plane and measuring the HBT radii as function of the angle between the reaction plane and the particle momenta can determine the physical quantities as source sizes, deformations, emission times, duration of emission and opacities. Comparison to SPS data and predictions for RHIC and LHC energies are…
The nuclear stopping, the elliptic flow, and the HBT interferometry are calculated by the UrQMD transport model, in which potentials for "pre-formed" particles (string fragments) from color fluxtube fragmentation as well as for confined particles are considered. This description provides stronger pressure at the early stage and describes these observables better than the default cascade mode (where the "pre-formed" particles from string fragmentation are treated to be free-streaming). It should be stressed that the inclusion of potential interactions pushes down the calculated HBT radius $R_O$…
Using one- and two-body density matrices, we calculate the spatial and momentum distributions, two-particle Hanbury-Brown Twiss (HBT) correlation functions, and the chaotic parameter $λ$ in HBT interferometry for the systems of boson gas within the harmonic oscillator potentials with anisotropic frequencies in transverse and longitudinal directions. The HBT chaotic parameter, which can be obtained by measuring the correlation functions at zero relative momentum of the particle pair, is related to the degree of Bose-Einstein condensation and thus the system environment. We investigate the effec…
Hanbury-Brown-Twiss (HBT) correlations for charged pions in central Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}=2.4 - 7.7~\text{GeV}$ (corresponding to beam kinetic energies in the fixed target frame from $E_{\rm{lab}}=1.23~\text{to}~30~\text{GeV/nucleon}$) are calculated using the UrQMD model with different equations of state. The effects of a phase transition at high baryon densities are clearly observed in the HBT parameters that are explored. It is found that the available data on the HBT radii, $R_{O}/R_{S}$ and $R^{2}_{O}-R^{2}_{S}$, in the investigated energy region favors a relatively st…
We systematically investigate the pion transverse momentum spectrum, elliptic flow, and Hanbury-Brown-Twiss (HBT) interferometry in the granular source model for the heavy ion collisions of Au-Au at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=$ 200 GeV and Pb-Pb at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=$ 2.76 TeV with different centralities. The granular source model can well reproduce the experimental results of the heavy ion collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). We examine the parameters involved in the granular source model. The experimental data of the momentum spectrum, elliptic flow,…
We present a systematic analysis of two-pion interferometry for the central Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{S_{NN}}$ = 3, 5, 7, 11, 17, 27, 39, 62, 130 and 200 GeV/c with the help of a multiphase transport (AMPT) model. Emission source-size radius parameters $R_{long}$, $R_{out}$, $R_{side}$ and the chaotic parameter $λ$ are extracted and compared with the experimental data. Transverse momentum and azimuthal angle dependencies of the HBT radii are also discussed for central Au+Au collisions at 200 GeV/c. The results show that the HBT radii in central collisions do not change much above 7 GeV/c. For…
We investigate pion source sizes through the Yano-Koonin-Podgoretski\uı (YKP) parametrization for the Hanbury-Brown Twiss (HBT) effect in the CERN-SPS 158 GeV/A central collisions. We calculate two-particle correlation functions numerically based on a (3+1)-dimensional relativistic hydrodynamics with a first order phase transition and analyze the pair momentum dependence of the HBT radii extracted from the YKP parametrization in detail. We find that even in the case of a first order phase transition, expansion and the surface dominant freeze-out make the source in the hydrodynamical model opaq…
It is pointed out that the size of the interaction region, as determined from HBT analyses, is increased due to the transition time necessary the convert the quarks and gluons into hadrons. A rough estimate yields an increase of R_HBT by about 15%.
We propose intensity interferometry with identical lepton pairs as an efficient tool for the estimation of the source size of the expanding hot zone produced in relativistic heavy ion collisions. This can act as a complementary method to two photon interferometry. The correlation function of two electrons with the same helicity has been evaluated for RHIC energies. The thermal shift of the rho meson mass has negligible effects on the HBT radii.
The nuclear overlap zone in non-central relativistic heavy ion collisions is azimuthally very asymmetric. By varying the angle between the axes of deformation and the transverse direction of the pair momenta, the transverse HBT radii oscillate in a characteristic way. It is shown that these oscillations allow determination of source sizes, deformations as well as the opacity and duration of emission of the source created in any non-central high energy nuclear collisions. The behavior of the physical quantities with centrality of the collisions is discussed --- in particular changes caused by a…
We investigate two-pion Bose-Einstein correlations of quark-gluon plasma droplet sources in single-event measurements. We find that the distribution of the fluctuation between correlation functions of the single- and mixed-events provide useful signals to detect the granular structure of the source.
We study the effect of resonance decays on intensity interferometry for heavy ion collisions. Collective expansion of the source leads to a dependence of the two-particle correlation function on the pair momentum K. This opens the possibility to reconstruct the dynamics of the source from the K-dependence of the measured HBT radii. Here we address the question to what extent resonance decays can fake such a flow signal. Within a simple parametrization for the emission function we present a comprehensive analysis of the interplay of flow and resonance decays on the one- and two-particle spectra…
Two-photon intensity interferometry is shown to provide an accurate measurement of lifetime of quark-gluon plasma created in ultra-relativistic heavy ion collisions via the difference of outward and sidewardcorrelation radii. Under the assumption of a longitudinal, boost invariant expansion of the plasma, we obtain analytical expressions for the correlations from the quark-gluon plasma phase. A $3+1$ dimensional expansion of the plasma along with a first order phase transition to hadrons is next considered, and, leads to a source with two characteristic lifetimes, one for the quark-gluon plasm…
A measurement for studying the mass dependence of the dilepton interferometry in relativistic heavy-ion collision experiments as a tool to characterize the quark-gluon phase is proposed. In calculations involving dileptons, we show that the mass dependence of radii extracted from the virtual photon (dilepton) interferometry provide access to the development of collective flow with time. It is argued that the non-monotonic variation of HBT radii with invariant mass of the lepton pairs signals the formation of quark gluon plasma in heavy ion collisions. Our proposal of experimentally measuring t…
We discuss an outside-inside scenario for a first order quark-hadron transition in the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) expected to be produced in heavy ion collisions, wherein the entire QGP region itself becomes like a subcritical bubble, and starts shrinking. We argue that this shrinking QGP bubble will lead to concentration of baryon number in a narrow beam like region in center, which can be detected by HBT analysis, or as a raised plateau in the rapidity plot of baryon number.
We study the effects of a collective flow and multiple scattering on two-particle correlation measurements in Hanbury-Brown-Twiss intensity interferometry. We find that under a collective flow the effective source distribution in a two-particle correlation measurement depends on the initial source distribution. In addition, it depends on a collective flow phase function which consists of terms that tend to cancel each other. As the detected particles traverse from the source point to the freeze-out point, they are subject to multiple scattering with medium particles. We examine the effects of …
