Two pion Bose-Einstein correlations in pp annihilations at rest

Bose-Einstein (BE) correlations between like-sign charged pions were studied in pp annihilations at rest into four-prong events, using data taken with the CPLEAR detector at LEAR (CERN). A strong enhancement was found in the production of pairs of like-sign pions of similar momenta, with respect to the pairs of unlike-sign pions. The observed BE- enhancement was used to extract the values for the strength λ of the effect and the radius r of the pion emitting source. The extracted value of λ > l is of relevant importance and clearly does not depend on the assumed parametrization of the correlation function. The influence of the normalization and fitting procedure, the detector resolution, the resonances production and decay and the neutral-pion multiplicity cuts, on the size of the pion source and the strength of the effect was investigated. © 1993