Mass Effects in Bose Einstein Correlations

TL;DR

This paper discusses how Bose-Einstein correlations between identical particles can reveal the space-time structure of collisions, highlighting that observed mass-dependent effects might partly result from kinematic factors rather than solely quantum symmetrization.

Contribution

It emphasizes that mass-dependent correlations in Bose-Einstein effects may be influenced by kinematic considerations, challenging the assumption they solely reflect source size.

Findings

Source radii depend on hadron mass in experiments.

Kinematic effects can produce mass-dependent correlation patterns.

Purely kinematic explanations are insufficient to fully account for observed effects.

Abstract

Bose-Einstein symmetrization can lead to correlations between out going identical particles which reflect the space-time extent of the collision process. At LEP and LEPII these correlations have been studied as a function of a single variable Q, the invariant momentum separation. Assuming a simple form for the correlation function the experiments find source radii dependent on the hadron mass. In this note, I point out that such effects can arise from purely kinematic considerations, although these are unlikely to explain the observed effects completely.