Partial coherence in the core/halo picture of Bose-Einstein n-particle correlations

Abstract

We study the influence of a possible coherent component in the boson source on the two-, three- and $n$-particle correlation functions in a generalized core/halo type of boson-emitting source. In particular, a simple formula is presented for the strengh of the $n$-particle correlation functions for such systems. Graph rules are obtained to evaluate the correlation functions of arbitrary high order. The importance of experimental determination of the 4-th and 5-th order Bose-Einstein correlation function is emphasized.