Implications of two-body fragment decay for the interpretation of emission chronology from velocity-gated correlation functions

Abstract

From velocity-gated small-angle correlation functions the emission chronology can be deduced for non-identical particles, if the emission is independent. This is not the case for non-identical particles that originate from two-body decay of fragments. Experimental results may contain contributions from both independent emission and two-body decay, so care is needed in interpreting the velocity-gated correlation functions. It is shown that in some special cases, it is still possible to deduce the emission chronology, even if there is a contribution from two-body decay.