Twisted emission geometry in noncentral Pb + Pb collisions measurable via azimuthally sensitive Hanbury-Brown–Twiss correlations

We use the ultrarelativistic quantum molecular-dynamics model to simulate Pb + Pb collisions. In the freeze-out geometry of noncentral Pb + Pb collisions we observe a tilt of the particle emission zone in the collision plane away from the beam axis. We find that the magnitude of this tilt depends on the scale at which the distribution is measured. We quantify this ``twisting'' behavior with a parametrization and propose to measure it experimentally via azimuthally sensitive Hanbury-Brown--Twiss (HBT) correlations. Additionally we show that the twist is related to the emission of particles from different times during the evolution of the source. A systematic comparison between the theoretically observed twist in the freeze-out position distribution and a mock experimental analysis of the model calculations via HBT correlations is shown.