Relationship between correlation function fit parameters and source distributions

Abstract
We review the method of two-particle intensity interferometry, define appropriate techniques to make the comparison between RQMD source distributions and correlation function fit parameters, and compare these to results from CERN experiments NA44 and NA35. The fit parameters are investigated as a function of rapidity and transverse momentum and are found to depend on the collision dynamics. Although position-momentum correlations invalidate the naive interpretation of the correlation function fit parameters as source sizes, we use a dynamical model to extract this information and identify a region in rapidity and transverse momentum where the dynamical effects are minimized.