Two-particle correlations at the CERN experiments at midrapidity

Heavy ion collisions at very high energies provide an opportunity to recreate in the laboratory the conditions which existed in the very early universe. Matter is prepared at high energy density and evidence that the quarks and gluons are deconfined are searched for. To do this, the hadronic system giving rise to the observed particles is to be characterized. Two-particle correlations reflect the size and shape of the hadronic system when the particles cease to interact, and also carry information about the dynamics of the evolution. Recent results are presented from experiments at 200 GeV/nucleon at CERN, and novel methods are discussed to interpret the results using the RQMD event generator. (author). 18 refs., 5 figs