Interferometry for rotating sources

TL;DR

This paper extends two-particle interferometry methods to rotating heavy ion collision sources, revealing how rotation induces azimuthal asymmetries in correlation functions similar to spatial asymmetries.

Contribution

It introduces a novel extension of interferometry analysis to rotating systems, demonstrating how rotation affects correlation measurements in heavy ion collisions.

Findings

Rotation causes azimuthal asymmetry in correlation functions

Rotation effects mimic spatial asymmetries in interferometry data

The method can detect rotational dynamics in heavy ion sources

Abstract

The two particle interferometry method to determine the size of the emitting source after a heavy ion collision is extended. Following the extension of the method to spherical expansion dynamics, here we extend the method to rotating systems. It is shown that rotation of a cylindrically symmetric system leads to modifications, which can be perceived as spatial asymmetry by the "azimuthal HBT" method. We study an exact rotating and expanding solution of the fluid dynamical model of heavy ion reactions. We consider a source that is azimuthally symmetric in space around the axis of rotation, and discuss the features of the resulting two particle correlation function. This shows the azimuthal asymmetry arising from the rotation. We show that this asymmetry leads to results similar to those given by spatially asymmetric sources.