Understanding the Optical Potential in HBT Interferometry

TL;DR

This paper investigates how using a pion optical potential affects HBT interferometry, revealing that complex potentials require additional emission terms and assessing their impact on previous models.

Contribution

It introduces a modified formalism for HBT interferometry when complex optical potentials are used, highlighting the need for additional emission contributions.

Findings

Real optical potentials modify the standard formalism.

Complex potentials necessitate including pion emission from eliminated states.

Assessment of effects in previous models by Cramer and Miller.

Abstract

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.