Nuclear hadronization: within or without? Original Research Article

Nuclei are unique analyzers for the early stage of the space–time development of hadronization. DIS at medium energies is especially suitable for this task being sensitive to hadronization dynamics, since the production length is comparable with the nuclear size. This was the driving motivation to propose measurements at HERMES using nuclear targets, and to provide predictions based on a pQCD model of hadronization [1]. Now when the first results of the experiment are released [2,3], one can compare the predictions with the data. The model successfully describes with no adjustment the nuclear effects for various energies, zh, pT, and Q2, for different flavors and different nuclei. It turns out that the main source of nuclear suppression of the hadron production rate is attenuation of colorless pre-hadrons in the medium. An alternative model [4] is based upon an ad hoc assumption that the colorless pre-hadron is produced outside the nucleus. This model has apparent problems attempting to explain certain features of the results from HERMES. A good understanding of the hadronization dynamics is important for proper interpretation of the strong suppression of high-pT hadrons observed in heavy ion collisions at RHIC. We demonstrate that the production length is even shorter in this case and keeps contracting with rising pT.