Pion-proton correlations and asymmetry measurement in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200$ $GeV$ data

TL;DR

This paper analyzes pion-proton correlations in Au+Au collisions at 200 GeV to investigate space-time emission asymmetries at freeze-out, providing insights into collision dynamics and particle emission sources.

Contribution

It introduces the first extraction of pion-proton correlation functions in Au+Au collisions at 200 GeV using spherical harmonic decomposition, highlighting asymmetries in emission points.

Findings

Correlation functions vary with collision centrality.

Asymmetries suggest differences in emission sources for pions and protons.

Results inform models of particle freeze-out dynamics.

Abstract

Correlations between non-identical particles at small relative velocity probe asymmetries in the average space-time emission points at freeze-out. The origin of such asymmetries may be from long-lived resonances, bulk collective effects, or differences in the freeze-out scenario for the different particle species. STAR has extracted pion-proton correlation functions from a dataset of Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200$ $GeV$. We present correlation functions in the spherical harmonic decomposition representation, for different centralities and for different combinations of pions and (anti-)protons.