Pre-Equilibrium Stage and Phase Transition of Quark Matter Probed by Photon Interferometry

Abstract

We study single- and double-inclusive spectra of thermal photons, produced in heavy-ion collisions at $\sqrt{s}=200$ AGeV within a realistic space-time framework which combines the Parton-Cascade-Model and 3-dimensional hydrodynamics (HYLANDER). This allows also for the first time to take into account pre-equilibrium effects for photon production. A rapid decrease in the width of the correlation function as the photon transverse momentum drops below $\sim 1.5$ GeV is a signature of the deconfinement phase transition.

arXiv comment10 pages, 3 Figures in uuencoded Postscript