Two-kaon correlations in central Pb + Pb collisions at 158 A GeV/c

Abstract

Two-particle interferometry of positive kaons is studied in Pb + Pb collisions at mean transverse momenta $<p_T>\approx 0.25$ and 0.91 GeV/c. A three-dimensional analysis was applied to the lower $p_T$ data, while a two-dimensional analysis was used for the higher $p_T$ data. We find that the source size parameters are consistent with the $m_T$ scaling curve observed in pion correlation measurements in the same collisions, and that the duration time of kaon emission is consistent with zero within the experimental sensitivity.

4 pages incl. 1 table and 3 fig's; RevTeX; accepted for publication in PRL