Evolution of pion phase-space density and Bose-enhancement effects in high-energy heavy-ion collisions

The evolution of the pion phase-space density in the ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collision is investigated on the basis of an analytical solution of the kinetic equation. The rate of pion production is treated as a superposition of binary collisions of the projectile and target nucleons. It is calculated in accordance with the experimentalNN→πX cross section, neglecting the deceleration of nuclei during their interpenetration. Very large occupation numbers of the lowp _T -pions in the central rapidity region are predicted for typical heavy-ion collisions at Brookhaven and CERN energies. The role of the Boseenhancement of pion production is discussed. It is shown that this effect may be essentially suppressed due to the finite formation time of pions.