The $x_F$ Dependence of $\psi$ and Drell-Yan Production

TL;DR

This paper models the nuclear dependence of $$ and Drell-Yan production in hadron-nucleus interactions, incorporating various nuclear effects, and compares predictions with experimental data to understand underlying nuclear mechanisms.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive model that separately incorporates multiple nuclear effects affecting $$, $'$, and Drell-Yan production, and compares these with experimental data.

Findings

Model reproduces preliminary E866 data on nuclear dependence.

Predicts nuclear effects at different energies and for various production processes.

Provides insights into the roles of absorption, shadowing, and energy loss.

Abstract

We discuss the nuclear dependence of $\psi$ and $\psi'$ production in hadron-nucleus interactions as a function of longitudinal momentum fraction $x_F$. Nuclear effects such as final-state absorption, interactions with comovers, shadowing of parton distributions, energy loss, and intrinsic heavy-quark components are described separately and incorporated into the model which is then compared to the preliminary E866 data. The resulting nuclear dependence of Drell-Yan production at 800 GeV and proposed measurements of $\psi$, $\psi'$ and Drell-Yan production at 120 GeV are also calculated.