Hadron-Hadron Correlation and Interaction from Heavy-Ion Collisions

TL;DR

This paper analyzes hadron-hadron correlations in heavy-ion collisions, revealing how interaction effects influence correlation functions and providing insights into hyperon interactions and kaonic hydrogen data.

Contribution

It offers a detailed investigation of $ ext{Lambda} ext{Lambda}$ and $K^-p$ correlation functions, highlighting the impact of interaction models and pair purity on experimental interpretations.

Findings

The $ ext{Lambda} ext{Lambda}$ correlation depends on interaction strength and pair purity.

Different pair purity assumptions lead to opposite signs of the $ ext{Lambda} ext{Lambda}$ scattering length.

The $K^-p$ correlation function can inform on the $ar{K}N$ interaction and complements scattering data.

Abstract

We investigate the $\Lambda\Lambda$ and $K^-p$ intensity correlations in high-energy heavy-ion collisions. First, we examine the dependence of the $\Lambda\Lambda$ correlation on the $\Lambda\Lambda$ interaction and the $\Lambda\Lambda$ pair purity probability $\lambda$. For small $\lambda$, the correlation function needs to be suppressed by the $\Lambda\Lambda$ interaction in order to explain the recently measured $\Lambda\Lambda$ correlation data. By comparison, when we adopt the $\lambda$ value evaluated from the experimentally measured $\Sigma^0/\Lambda$ ratio, the correlation function needs to be enhanced by the interaction. We demonstrate that these two cases correspond to the two analyses which gave opposite signs of the $\Lambda\Lambda$ scattering length. Next, we discuss the $K^-p$ correlation function. By using the local $\bar{K}N$ potential which reproduces the kaonic hydrogen data by SIDDHARTA, we obtain the $K^-p$ correlation function. We find that the $K^-p$ correlation can provide a complementary information with the $K^{-}p$ elastic scattering amplitude.