The Long Slow Death of the HBT Puzzle

Abstract

Femtoscopic measurements at RHIC have been hailed as a source of insight into the bulk properties of QCD matter. However, hydrodynamic models, which have been successful in reproducing other observables have failed to satisfactorily explain femtoscopic two-particle correlation measurements. This failure has been labeled the "HBT puzzle". In this talk, I present correlations using a hybrid model composed of a viscous hydrodynamic module and a hadronic cascade. After incorporating early acceleration, viscosity and a stiffer equation of state, the extracted source sizes come much closer to experiment.

Comments: Talk given at WPCF (Workshop on Particle Correlations and Femtoscopy) 2008, Krakow, Poland. Proceedings to be published in Acta Physica Polonica B