Event-by-event investigation of the two-particle source function in $\sqrt{s_{_{\text{NN}}}}=2.76$ TeV PbPb collisions with EPOS

Phys. Lett. B 847 (2023) 138295 The investigation of the two-particle source function in lead-lead collisions simulated by the EPOS model at a center of mass energy per nucleon pair of $\sqrt{s_{_{\text{NN}}}=2.76$ TeV is presented. The two-particle source functions are reconstructed directly on an event-by-event basis for pions, kaons and protons separately, using the final stage of EPOS. A L\'evy source shape is observed for all three particle species in the individual events, deviating significantly from a Gaussian shape. The source parameters are extracted as functions of collision centrality and pair average transverse mass ($m_{\text{T}}$). The L\'evy exponent is found to be ordered accordingly to particle mass. The L\'evy scale parameter is found to scale for all particle species with $m_{\text{T}}$ according to Gaussian hydrodynamical predictions; however, there is no $m_{\text{T}}$-scaling found across these species. In case of pions, the effects of the decay products and hadronic rescattering are also investigated. The L\'evy exponent is decreased when decay products are also included in the analysis. Without hadronic rescattering and decay products, the source shape is close to a Gaussian.