Bose-Einstein Correlations for Expanding Finite Systems

Abstract

There are two length-scales present simultaneously in all the principal directions for three-dimensionally expanding, finite systems. These are discussed in detail for the case of a longitudinally expanding system with a transverse flow and a transverse temperature profile. For systems with large geometrical sizes we find an $m_t$-scaling for the parameters of the Bose-Einstein correlation function, which may be valid in the whole transverse mass region for certain model parameters. In this limit, the Bose-Einstein correlations view only a small part of the source. The large geometrical sizes can be inferred from a simultaneous analysis of the invariant momentum distribution and the Bose-Einstein correlation function. A preliminary analysis of the NA44 data indicates that instead of a small fireball we are observing a big and expanding snowball in $S + Pb $ reactions at CERN SPS energies.