HBT and Fluctuations: Recent Results

We give an overview of the latest results of HBT and fluctuations studies in heavy ion collisions presented during the Quark Matter 2001 Conference.Comment: Contribution to Quark Matter 2001 Conferenc

Pion Imaging at the AGS

Source imaging analysis was performed on two-pion correlations in central Au + Au collisions at beam energies between 2 and 8$A$ GeV. We apply the imaging technique by Brown and Danielewicz, which allows a model-independent extraction of source functions with useful accuracy out to relative pion separations of about 20 fm. We found that extracted source functions have Gaussian shapes. Values of source functions at zero separation are almost constant across the energy range under study. Imaging results are found to be consistent with conventional source parameters obtained from a multidimensional HBT analysis.Comment: Talk given at Bologna 2000 - Structure of the Nucleus at the Dawn of the Century, Bologna, Italia, May 29 - June 3, 200

Dissipation near the QCD phase transition

We set up a framework for field theoretical studies of systems out of thermal equilibrium and zoom in on the dissipation of disoriented chiral condensates. Short relaxation times are obtained in the phase transition region, jeopardizing the definiteness of a DCC signal.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, espcrc.sty, to be published in the proceedings PANIC02, Osaka, Japan, September 30 - October 4, 200

Kaon Interferometry: A Sensitive Probe of the QCD Equation of State?

We calculate the kaon HBT radius parameters for high energy heavy ion collisions, assuming a first order phase transition from a thermalized Quark-Gluon-Plasma to a gas of hadrons. At high transverse momenta K_T ~ 1 GeV/c direct emission from the phase boundary becomes important, the emission duration signal, i.e., the R_out/R_side ratio, and its sensitivity to T_c (and thus to the latent heat of the phase transition) are enlarged. Moreover, the QGP+hadronic rescattering transport model calculations do not yield unusual large radii (R_i<9fm). Finite momentum resolution effects have a strong impact on the extracted HBT parameters (R_i and lambda) as well as on the ratio R_out/R_side.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Particle Correlations at RHIC - Scrutiny of a Puzzle

We present calculations of two-pion and two-kaon correlation functions in relativistic heavy ion collisions from a relativistic transport model that includes explicitly a first-order phase transition from a thermalized quark-gluon plasma to a hadron gas. We compare the obtained correlation radii with recent data from RHIC. The predicted R_side radii agree with data while the R_out and R_long radii are overestimated. We also address the impact of in-medium modifications, for example, a broadening of the rho-meson, on the correlation radii. In particular, the longitudinal correlation radius R_long is reduced, improving the comparison to data.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Kaon interferometry : a sensitive probe of the QCD equation of state?

We calculate the kaon HBT radius parameters for high energy heavy ion collisions, assuming a first order phase transition from a thermalized Quark-Gluon-Plasma to a gas of hadrons. At high transverse momenta K_T ~ 1 GeV/c direct emission from the phase boundary becomes important, the emission duration signal, i.e., the R_out/R_side ratio, and its sensitivity to T_c (and thus to the latent heat of the phase transition) are enlarged. Moreover, the QGP+hadronic rescattering transport model calculations do not yield unusual large radii (R_i<9fm). Finite momentum resolution effects have a strong impact on the extracted HBT parameters (R_i and lambda) as well as on the ratio R_out/R_side