Particle interferometry in heavy ion collisions

In this tutorial paper the method of Hanbury Brown and Twiss (HBT) (1956) used in optical and radiofrequency interferometry and its generalization to particle interferometry are reviewed. We give also an outline of how the HBT effect has been applied in the very active area of current research in heavy ion physics. The space time parameters of the collision region are determined from measurements of particle correlations to give important information about nuclear matter at high energy densities.<
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