Bose-Einstein correlations in Si + Al and Si + Au collisions at 14.6A GeV/c

The E802 Spectrometer at the Brookhaven Alternating Gradient Synchrotron has been used to measure the correlation in relative momentum between like-sign pions emitted in central Si + Al and Si + Au collisions at 14.6A GeV/c. Data are presented in terms of the correlation function for both identified pi(-) and pi(+) pairs near the nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass rapidity. All parametrizations of the correlation function are consistent with a spherically symmetric source of rms radius 3.5 +/- 0.4 fm and lifetime fm/c.