PHENIX results on three-particle Bose-Einstein correlations in $\sqrt{S_{NN}} = 200$ GeV Au+Au collisions

Abstract

Bose-Einstein correlations of identical hadrons reveal information about hadron creation from the strongly interacting matter formed in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions. The measurement of three-particle correlations may in particular shed light on hadron creation mechanisms beyond thermal/chaotic emission. In this paper we show the status of PHENIX measurements of three pion correlations as a function of momentum differences within the triplets. We analyze the shape of the correlation functions through the assumption of L\'evy sources and a proper treatment of the Coulomb interaction within the triplets. We measure the three-particle correlation strength ($\lambda_3$), which, together with the two-particle correlation strength $\lambda_2$, encodes information about hadron creation mechanisms. From a consistent analysis of two- and three-particle correlation strength we establish a new experimental measure of thermalization and coherence in the source.