ANALYSIS OF MULTIPARTICLE BOSE-EINSTEIN CORRELATIONS IN ULTRARELATIVISTIC HEAVY-ION COLLISIONS

We introduce the coalescence variables, a set of three boost-invariant kinematic quantities that may be used in analyzing n-particle correlations. These variables characterize the invariant mass of an n-particle system, and in three directions separate the timelike and spacelike characteristics of the source. The analytic Kolehmanien-Gyulassy model is generalized to give two-, three-, and four-particle correlation functions, with coherence and Coulomb corrections applied to the basic formalism. We demonstrate the relation of the coalescence variables to the radius and duration of the source, and find that for sufficiently large transverse radii, Coulomb effects can suppress the structure of the Hanbury-Brown-Twiss correlations so that no significant information on source size can be obtained.