Squeezed fermions at relativistic heavy ion colliders

Abstract

Large back-to-back correlations of observable fermion-anti-fermion pairs are predicted to appear, if the mass of the fermions is modified in a thermalized medium. The back-to-back correlations of protons and anti-protons are experimentally observable in ultra-relativistic heavy ion collisions, similarly to the Andreev reflection of elections off the boundary of a superconductor. While quantum statistics suppresses the probability of observing pairs of fermions with nearby momenta, the fermionic back-to-back correlations are positive and of similar strength to bosonic back-to-back correlations. (C) 2001 Elsevier B.V. B,V, All rights reserved.