Bose-Einstein correlations in the hadronic decays of the Z0

Abstract Bose-Einstein correlationbetween pairs of like-sign charged particles produced in e + e − annihilations near the Z 0 peak have been studied using data taken with the DELPHI detector at LEP. An enhancement is found in the production of pairs of identical pionsof similar moments, with respect to a reference sample. Under the hypothesis that the pionsare emitted by a spherically symmetrical source with gaussian density, the data indicate a radius of the source of r = 0.62±0.04(stat.)±0.20(syst.) fm. The large systematic uncertainty reflects the sensitivity of r to the choice of the reference sample.