An estimate of the prehadron production time

TL;DR

This paper provides a semi-quantitative estimate of prehadron production time in nuclear DIS, explaining recent HERMES data and suggesting experimental tests, with implications for understanding hadronization inside and outside nuclei.

Contribution

It introduces a new estimate of prehadron production time based on HERMES data, addressing its dependence on photon virtuality and proposing mechanisms for further investigation.

Findings

Estimated production time of 4-5 fm at HERMES

Data largely explained except for photon virtuality dependence

Comparison with CLAS data shows qualitative agreement

Abstract

A semi-quantitative estimate of the prehadron production time based on recent preliminary HERMES data on hadron transverse momentum broadening in nuclear DIS is presented. The obtained production time can well explain the data except for their dependence on the photon virtuality, which remains a challenge to current theoretical models. A few mechanisms that may contribute to its explanation are suggested, along with possible experimental tests. The average time scale at HERMES is found to be of the order of 4-5 fm, comparable to heavy nuclei radii, so that by suitable kinematic cuts it will be possible to study both the case in which hadronization starts inside and the case in which it starts outside the nucleus. A comparison with recent CLAS preliminary data, which qualitatively but not quantitatively agree with HERMES, is performed.