Bose-Einstein Correlations of Charged Pion Pairs in Au+Au Collisions at sqrt(s_NN)=200_ GeV

Abstract

Bose-Einstein correlations of identically charged pion pairs were measured by the PHENIX experiment at mid-rapidity in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}$ = 200 GeV. The Bertsch-Pratt radius parameters were determined as a function of the transverse momentum of the pair and as a function of the centrality of the collision. Using the \it{full} Coulomb correction, the ratio $R_{\mathrm{out}}/R_{\mathrm{side}}$ is smaller than unity for $<k_{\mathrm{T}}>$ from 0.25 to 1.2 GeV/c and for all measured centralities. However, using recently developed partial Coulomb correction methods, we find that $R_{\mathrm{out}}/R_{\mathrm{side}}$ is 0.8-1.1 for the measured $<k_{\mathrm{T}}>$ range, and approximately constant at unity with the number of participants.

326 authors, 6 pages text, 3 figures, RevTeX 4. Submitted to PRL. Plain text data tables for the points plotted in figures for this and previous PHENIX publications are (or will be) publicly available at http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/papers.html