Elliptic flow and Hanbury-Brown–Twiss correlations in noncentral nuclear collisions
Abstract
Elliptic flow and Hanbury-Brown--Twiss correlations (HBT) are studied for noncentral relativistic nuclear collisions. Azimuthal asymmetries show up in both elliptic flow and HBT radii and are calculated in both collisionless and hydrodynamic limits relevant for peripheral and central collisions, respectively. Determining the reaction plane and measuring the HBT radii as a function of the angle between the reaction plane and the particle momenta can determine the physical quantities as source sizes, deformations, emission times, duration of emission, and opacities. Comparison to SPS data and predictions for RHIC and LHC energies are given. The centrality dependence with and without a phase transition to a quark-gluon plasma is discussed---in particular, how the physical quantities are expected to display a qualitative different behavior in the case of a phase transition.