Three particle L\'evy HBT from PHENIX

Abstract

Bose-Einstein correlations of identical bosons reveal information about the space-time structure of particle emission from the sQGP formed in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions. Previous measurements of two particle correlations have shown that the source can best be described by a symmetric Levy distribution. Here we report on the measurement of three-particle correlations in 0-30 % centrality Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_\text{NN}}} = 200$ GeV, and describe them with a Levy type source. This measurement may shed light on hadron creation mechanisms beyond chaotic emission. We measure three particle correlation strength ($\lambda_3$) as a function of pair transverse momentum. This parameter, combined with two-particle correlation strength $\lambda_2$ may reveal the level of chaoticity and coherence in particle production.