The Multiplicity Dependence of Pion Interferometry in Hydrodynamics

Abstract

Understanding the origins of collective, fluid-like behavior in ultrarelativistic nuclear collisions constitutes one of the biggest open challenges in the field. In this Letter, it is argued that certain features in the multiplicity dependence of the source sizes extracted using pion interferometry may be understood quite naturally if small systems evolve hydrodynamically at sufficiently large multiplicities. Interferometry may therefore provide a baseline for probing and constraining the nature of collective behavior in nuclear collisions.