Pion emission source shape in UrQMD Au+Au collisions at STAR energies

Abstract

Femtoscopic measurements of two-pion Bose--Einstein correlations have established that particle-emitting sources in heavy-ion collisions are well described by Lévy $α$-stable distributions, motivating systematic studies across a wide range of collision energies. In this work, we present a three-dimensional femtoscopic analysis of pion pairs in Au+Au collisions simulated with the UrQMD model for collision energies $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=3$--$27\,\mathrm{GeV}$, taking the RHIC BES-II range of collider and fixed target experiment energies for reference. Using Lévy-type source parameterisations, we extract the pair multiplicity parameter $λ^{*}$ (related to the correlation strength $λ$), Lévy index $α$, and three-dimensional radii $R_\mathrm{out}$, $R_\mathrm{side}$, and $R_\mathrm{long}$. We investigate their dependence on the transverse mass ($m_T$) and collision energy, along with derived quantities such as the radius difference $R_{\mathrm{diff}}^2=R_{\mathrm{out}}^2-R_\mathrm{side}^2$ and the ratio $R_\mathrm{out}/R_\mathrm{side}$. We find that $R_\mathrm{out,side,long}$ all decrease with increasing $m_T$ and increase with collision energy, consistent with collective expansion, $R_\mathrm{long}$ showing the strongest and $R_\mathrm{side}$ the weakest energy dependence. The Lévy index $α$ decreases with collision energy, with a larger $m_T$-dependence towards higher energies. The $λ^{*}$ parameter is consistent with a constant close to unity in the absence of pions from long-lived resonances. These results provide a baseline for future comparisons with experimental measurements from the STAR Collaboration, contributing to constraints on the QCD phase diagram.