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  • Universal pion freeze-out i...
    Adamová, D; Agakichiev, G; Appelshäuser, H; Belaga, V; Braun-Munzinger, P; Castillo, A; Cherlin, A; Damjanović, S; Dietel, T; Dietrich, L; Drees, A; Esumi, S I; Filimonov, K; Fomenko, K; Fraenkel, Z; Garabatos, C; Glässel, P; Hering, G; Holeczek, J; Kushpil, V; Lenkeit, B; Ludolphs, W; Maas, A; Marín, A; Milosević, J; Milov, A; Miśkowiec, D; Panebrattsev, Yu; Petchenova, O; Petrácek, V; Pfeiffer, A; Rak, J; Ravinovich, I; Rehak, P; Sako, H; Schmitz, W; Schukraft, J; Sedykh, S; Shimansky, S; Slívová, J; Specht, H J; Stachel, J; Sumbera, M; Tilsner, H; Tserruya, I; Wessels, J P; Wienold, T; Windelband, B; Wurm, J P; Xie, W; Yurevich, S; Yurevich, V

    Physical review letters, 01/2003, Volume: 90, Issue: 2
    Journal Article

    Based on an evaluation of data on pion interferometry and on particle yields at midrapidity, we propose a universal condition for thermal freeze-out of pions in heavy-ion collisions. We show that freeze-out occurs when the mean free path of pions lambda(f) reaches a value of about 1 fm, which is much smaller than the spatial extent of the system at freeze-out. This critical mean free path is independent of the centrality of the collision and beam energy from the Alternating Gradient Synchrotron to the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider.