Pion-kaon femtoscopy in Pb$-$Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=2.76$ TeV measured with ALICE

Abstract

Femtoscopic correlations between charged pions and kaons for different charge combinations are measured in Pb$-$Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=2.76$ TeV with ALICE at the LHC. The three-dimensional pion-kaon ($\pi-{\rm K}$) correlation functions and double ratios in the out-side-long pair rest frame are studied in different centrality bins. The $\pi-{\rm K}$ femtoscopic source size parameter ($R_{\rm out}$) and emission asymmetry ($\mu_{\rm out}$) are extracted. It is observed that the average source size of the system and the emission asymmetry between pions and kaons increase from peripheral to central events.