Bose-Einstein correlations in Si+Al and Si+Au collisions at 14.6AGeV/c

The E802 Spectrometer at the Brookhaven Alternating Gradient Synchrotron has been used to measure the correlations in relative momentum between like-sign pions emitted in central Si+Al and Si+Au collisions at 14.6A GeV/c. Data are presented in terms of the correlation function for both identified ${\mathrm{\pi }}^{\mathrm{-}}$ and ${\mathrm{\pi }}^{+}$ pairs near the nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass rapidity. All parametrizations of the correlation function are consistent with a spherically symmetric source of rms radius ${\mathit{R}}_{\mathrm{rms}}$≊3.5±0.4 fm and lifetime τ∼2 fm/c.