Interference analysis of the pion-production volume for hadron-hadron and nucleus-nucleus collisions at primary momenta in the range 3.8–5.2 GeV/ c per nucleon

By the method of interference correlations, it was directly proven for the first time that the pion-production volume in neutron-proton ( np ) interactions at primary momenta in the range 3.8–5.2 GeV/ c is not constant. It was shown that the interference patterns for np and MgMg interactions are identical. It was established that the rate of expansion of the pion-production volume does not depend on the type of interacting particles (from np and e + e − to PbPb collisions) or on their primary energy (from 3.4 to 200 GeV). It was found that the determination of dimensions is possible only for individual approximately stationary volume elements in their rest frame. A change in the kinematical properties of the subensemble under analysis leads to changes both in the size of the respective element and in its shape.