Final state interactions in two-particle interferometry

Abstract

We reconsider the influence of two-particle final state interactions (FSI) on two-particle Bose-Einstein interferometry. We concentrate in particular on the problem of particle emission at different times. Assuming chaoticity of the source, we derive a new general expression for the symmetrized two-particle cross section. We discuss the approximations needed to derive from the general result the Koonin-Pratt formula. Introducing a less stringent version of the so-called smoothness approximation we also derive a more accurate formula. It can be implemented into classical event generators and allows to calculate FSI corrected two-particle correlation functions via modified Bose-Einstein "weights".