Bombarding energy dependence of pi(-) interferometry at the brookhaven AGS
We present the first excitation function of pi(-) intensity interferometry at Alternating Gradient Synchrotron (AGS) energies (2-8 A GeV). The sensitivity of the multidimensional correlation functions to the geometry and dynamics of the pion-emitting system provides a stringent test of transport models of heavy ion collisions. Detailed comparisons with a realistic transport model, both with and without an explicit nuclear mean field, suggest that the beam energy evolution in the reaction dynamics is different in the model than in the data. A significantly increased pi(-) emission time scale, which has been suggested as a signal of the onset of the transition to quark-gluon plasma, is not observed.
Lisa
MA
The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA.
Ajitanand
NN
Alexander
JM
Anderson
M
Best
D
Brady
FP
Case
T
Caskey
W
Cebra
D
Chance
JL
Chung
P
Cole
B
Crowe
K
Das
AC
Draper
JE
Gilkes
ML
Gushue
S
Heffner
M
Hirsch
AS
Hjort
EL
Huo
L
Justice
M
Kaplan
M
Keane
D
Kintner
JC
Klay
J