Can we obtain a "new femtoscopy" on the basis of electromagnetic effects?

We review our studies of spectator-induced electromagnetic (EM) effects on charged pion emission in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions. These effects are found to consist in the electromagnetic {charge splitting} of pion directed flow as well as very large distortions in spectra and ratios of produced charged particles. As it emerges from our analysis, they offer sensitivity to the actual distance $d_E$ between the pion formation zone at freeze-out and the spectator matter. As a result, this gives a new possibility of studying the space-time evolution of dense and hot matter created in the course of the collision. Having established that $d_E$ traces the longitudinal evolution of the system and therefore rapidly decreases as a function of pion rapidity, we investigate the latter finding in view of pion feed-over from intermediate resonance production. As a result we obtain a first estimate of the pion decoupling time from EM effects which we compare to existing HBT data. We conclude that spectator-induced EM interactions can serve as a new tool for studying the space-time characteristics and longitudinal evolution of the system.