Femtoscopy using L\'evy-distributed sources at NA61/SHINE

Abstract

In the recent years, research studies in high-energy physics have confirmed the creation of the strongly interacting quark-gluon plasma (sQGP) in ultra-relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions. NA61/SHINE at CERN SPS investigates hadronic matter properties by varying collision energy ($\sqrt{s_{\rm{NN}}} \approx 5.3, 6.2, 7.7, 8.8, 12$, and 16.8 GeV) and systems (such as p+p, p+Pb, Be+Be, Ar+Sc, Xe+La, Pb+Pb). Utilizing femtoscopic correlations, we can unveil the space-time structure of the hadron emitting source. Our focus is on femtoscopic correlations in small to intermediate systems, comparing measurements with source calculations based on L\'evy-distributed sources, to explore the pair transverse mass dependence of the L\'evy source parameters. The L\'evy exponent $\alpha$ is of particular significance, which characterizes the shape of the source and may be connected to the critical exponent $\eta$ near the critical point. Our analysis will reveal that the L\'evy shape parameter, $\alpha$, has a slight non-monotonic behaviour as a function of collision energy and that we see a deviation from Gaussian sources. Finally, it will be shown that there is no indication of the critical point at any of the investigated energies.