Recent experiments on pion correlations, interpreted as interferometric measurements of the collision zone, are compared with models that distinguish a prehadronic phase and a hadronic phase. The models include prehadronic longitudinal expansion, conversion to hadrons in local kinetic equilibrium, and rescattering of the produced hadrons. We find that the longitudinal and outward radii are surprisingly sensitive to the algorithm used for two-body collisions. The longitudinal radius measured in collisions of 200 GeV/nucleon sulfur nuclei on a heavy target requires the existence of a prehadronic phase which converts to the hadronic phase at densities around 0.8–1.0 GeV/${\mathrm{fm}}^3$. The transverse radii cannot be reproduced without introducing more complex dynamics into the transverse expansion.

• Received 17 May 1994

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.51.328