Cronin effect in proton-nucleus collisions: a survey of theoretical models

TL;DR

This paper surveys various theoretical models explaining the Cronin effect in proton-nucleus collisions, comparing their predictions across energies and proposing pseudorapidity systematics as a discriminating tool.

Contribution

It provides a comparative analysis of existing models for the Cronin effect and suggests a new method to differentiate among them using pseudorapidity data.

Findings

Models show varying predictions for the two key variables across energies.

Pseudorapidity systematics can help distinguish among different theoretical approaches.

Energy dependence of the Cronin effect varies among models.

Abstract

I compare the available theoretical models that describe the Cronin effect on hadron and minijet production in proton-nucleus collisions, pointing out similarities and differences among them. The effect may be summarized by the value of two variables. Their values computed in the different models are compared in the energy range 27.4 GeV - 5500 GeV. Finally, I propose to use the pseudorapidity systematics as a further handle to distinguish among the models.