In non-central heavy ion collisions, identical two particle
Hanbury-Brown/Twiss (HBT) correlations C(K,q) depend on the azimuthal direction
of the pair momentum K. We investigate the consequences for a harmonic analysis
of the corresponding HBT radius parameters. Our discussion includes both, a
model- independent analysis of these parameters in the Gaussian approximation,
and the study of a class of hydrodynamical models which mimic essential
geometrical and dynamical properties of peripheral heavy ion collisions. Also,
we discuss the additional geometrical and dynamical information contained in
the harmonic coefficients of these HBT radius parameters. The leading
contribution of their first and second harmonics are found to satisfy simple
constraints. This allows for a minimal, azimuthally sensitive parametrization
of all first and second harmonic coefficients in terms of only two additional
fit parameters. We determine to what extent these parameters can be extracted
from experimental data despite finite multiplicity fluctuations and the
resulting uncertainty in the reconstruction of the reaction plane.Comment: 14 pages, RevTeX, 7 eps-figures include
