Kaon Interferometry: A Sensitive Probe of the QCD Equation of State?

We calculate the kaon-interferometry radius parameters for high-energy heavy-ion collisions, assuming a first-order phase transition from a thermalized quark-gluon plasma (QGP) to a gas of hadrons. At high transverse momenta K_T∼1 GeV/c direct emission from the phase boundary becomes important; the emission duration signal, i.e., the R_out/R_side ratio, and its sensitivity to T_c (and thus to the latent heat) are enlarged. The QGP+hadronic rescattering transport model calculations do not yield unusually large radii (R_i≤9 fm). Finite-momentum-resolution effects have a strong impact on the extracted interferometry parameters ( R_i and λ), as well as on the ratio R_out/R_side.