Femtoscopically Probing the Freeze-out Configuration in Heavy Ion Collisions ∗ Michael Annan Lisa and Scott Pratt Abstract Two-particle femtoscopy reveals the space-time substructure of the freeze-out configuration from heavy ion collisions. Detailed fingerprints of bulk col- lectivity are evident in space-momentum correlations, which have been systemati- cally measured as a function of particle type, three-momentum, and collision condi- tions. A clear scenario, dominated by hydrodynamic-type flow emerges. Reproduc- ing the strength and features of the femtoscopicsignals in models involves important physical quantities like the Equation of State, as well as less fundamental techni- cal details. An interesting approximate “factorization” in the measured systematics suggests that the overall physical freeze-out scale is set by final state chemistry, but the kinematic substructure is largely universal. Referring to previous results from hadron and lepton collisions, we point to the importance of determining whether these “universal” trends persist from the largest to the smallest systems. We review theoretical expectations for heavy ion femtoscopy at the LHC, and point to direc- tions needing further theory and experimental work at RHIC and the LHC. arXiv:0811.1352v3 [nucl-ex] 2 Oct 2009 Michael Annan Lisa Department of Physics, Ohio State University 191 West Woodruff Ave Columbus, OH 43210 e-mail:
[email protected] Scott Pratt Department of Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824 e-mail:
[email protected] ∗ Support was provided by the U.S. Department of Energy, Grant No. DE-FG02-03ER41259, and by the U.S. National Science Foundation, Grant No.