Pion-kaon femtoscopy in Pb$-$Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=2.76$ TeV measured with ALICE

TL;DR

This paper reports measurements of pion-kaon femtoscopic correlations in Pb-Pb collisions at 2.76 TeV, revealing how source size and emission asymmetry vary with collision centrality using ALICE data.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed three-dimensional femtoscopic analysis of pion-kaon correlations at LHC energies, including source size and emission asymmetry parameters.

Findings

Source size increases from peripheral to central collisions.

Emission asymmetry between pions and kaons increases with centrality.

Femtoscopic parameters are extracted from correlation functions.

Abstract

Femtoscopic correlations between charged pions and kaons for different charge combinations are measured in Pb$-$Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=2.76$ TeV with ALICE at the LHC. The three-dimensional pion-kaon ($\pi-{\rm K}$) correlation functions and double ratios in the out-side-long pair rest frame are studied in different centrality bins. The $\pi-{\rm K}$ femtoscopic source size parameter ($R_{\rm out}$) and emission asymmetry ($\mu_{\rm out}$) are extracted. It is observed that the average source size of the system and the emission asymmetry between pions and kaons increase from peripheral to central events.