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B. Z. Kopeliovich

Publications and source records attributed to B. Z. Kopeliovich.

At least 145 records · Page 8Linked to original sources

Color Transparency versus Quantum Coherence in Electroproduction of Vector Mesons off Nuclei

So far no theoretical tool for the comprehensive description of exclusive electroproduction of vector mesons off nuclei at medium energies has been developed. We suggest a light-cone QCD formalism which is valid at any energy and incorporates formation effects (color transparency), the coherence length and the gluon shadowing. At medium energies color transparency (CT) and the onset of coherence length (CL) effects are not easily separated. Indeed, although nuclear transparency measured by the HERMES experiment rises with Q^2, it agrees with predictions of the vector dominance model (VDM) without any CT effects. Our new results and observations are: (i) the good agreement with the VDM found earlier is accidental and related to the specific correlation between Q^2 and CL for HERMES kinematics; (ii) CT effects are much larger than have been estimated earlier within the two channel approximation. They are even stronger at low than at high energies and can be easily identified by HERMES or at JLab; (iii) gluon shadowing which is important at high energies is calculated and included; (iv) our parameter-free calculations explain well available data for variation of nuclear transparency with virtuality and energy of the photon; (v) predictions for electroproduction of ρand ϕare provided for future measurements at HERMES and JLab.

hep-ph↗

Long-Range Coulomb Forces in DIS: Missed Radiative Corrections?

The Born approximation, one photon exchange, used for DIS is subject to virtual radiative corrections which are related to the long-range Coulomb forces. They may be sizeable for heavy nuclei since Zαis not a small parameter. So far these corrections are known only for two processes, elastic scattering and bremsstrahlung on the Coulomb field of a point-like target. While the former amplitude acquires only a phase, in the latter case the cross section is modified also. Although the problem of Coulomb corrections for DIS on nuclei is extremely difficult, it should be challenged rather than 'swept under the carpet'. The importance of these radiative corrections is questioned in present paper. We show that in the simplest case of a constant hadronic current the Coulomb corrections provide a phase to the Born amplitude, therefore the cross section remains the same. Inclusion of more realistic hadronic dynamics changes this conclusion. The example of coherent production of vector mesons off nuclei reveals large effects. So far a little progress has been made deriving exact lepton wave functions in the Coulomb field of an extended target. Employing available results based on the first-order approximation in Zα, we conclude that the Coulomb corrections are still important for heavy nuclei. We also consider an alternative approach for extended nuclear targets, the eikonal approximation, which we demonstrate to reproduce the known exact results for Coulomb corrections. Calculating electroproduction of vector mesons we again arrive at a large deviation from the Born approximation. We conclude that one should accept with caution the experimental results for nuclear effects in DIS based on analyses done in the Born approximation.

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Scanning the Quark-Gluon Plasma with Charmonium

We suggest the variation of charmonium suppression with Feynman x_F in heavy ion collisions as a novel and sensitive probe for the properties of the matter created in such reactions. In contrast to the proton-nucleus case where nuclear suppression is weakest at small x_F, final state interactions with the comoving matter create a minimum at x_F=0, which is especially deep and narrow if a quark-gluon plasma is formed. While a particularly strong effect is predicted at SPS, at the higher RHIC energy it overlaps with the expected sharp variation with x_F of nuclear effects and needs comparison with proton-nucleus data. If thermal enhancement of J/Ψproduction takes over at the energies of RHIC and LHC, it will form an easily identified peak, rather than dip in x_F dependence. We predict a steep dependence on centrality and suggest that this new probe is complementary to the dependence on transverse energy, and is more sensitive to a scenario of final state interactions.

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Charmonium Production off Nuclei: from SPS to RHIC

Physics of charmonium suppression in nuclear collisions drastically changes between the energies of SPS and RHIC. Mechanisms suppressing charmonia at SPS are reviewed, neither of which is important at RHIC. On the other hand, coherence, or shadowing of c-quarks and gluons barely seen at SPS, become a dominant effect at RHIC providing a much stronger suppression. A onset of coherence at Fermilab energies explains the observed cross section ratio steeply falling at large Feynman x_F. In nuclear collisions variation of charmonium suppression with x_F suggests a sensitive probe for QGP.

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Polarized Proton Nucleus Scattering

We show that, to a very good approximation, the ratio of the spin-flip to the non-flip parts of the elastic proton-nucleus amplitude is the same as for proton-nucleon scattering at very high energy. The result is used to do a realistic calculation of the analyzing power A_N for pC scattering in the Coulomb-nuclear interference (CNI) region of momentum transfer.

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Energy Loss versus Shadowing in the Drell-Yan Reaction on Nuclei

We present a new analysis of the E772 and E866 experiments on the nuclear dependence of Drell-Yan (DY) lepton pair production resulting from the bombardment of $^2H$, Be, C, Ca, Fe, and W targets by 800 GeV/c protons at Fermilab. We employ a light-cone formulation of the DY reaction in the rest frame of the nucleus, where the dimuons detected at small values of Bjorken x_2 << 1 may be considered to originate from the decay of a heavy photon radiated from an incident quark in a bremsstrahlung process. We infer the energy loss of the quark by examining the suppression of the nuclear-dependent DY ratios seen as a function of projectile momentum fraction x_1 and dimuon mass M. Shadowing, which also leads to nuclear suppression of dimuons, is calculated within the same approach employing the results of phenomenological fits to deep inelastic scattering data from HERA. The analysis yields -dE/dz =2.73 +/- 0.37 +/- 0.5 GeV/fm for the rate of quark energy loss per unit path length, a value consistent with theoretical expectations including the effects of the inelastic interaction of the incident proton at the surface of the nucleus. This is the first observation of a nonzero energy loss effect in such experiments.

hep-ph↗

Coherence Phenomena in Charmonium Production off Nuclei at the Energies of RHIC and LHC

In the energy range of RHIC and LHC the mechanisms of nuclear suppression of charmonia are expected to be strikingly different from what is known for the energy of the SPS. One cannot think any more of charmonium produced on a bound nucleon which then attenuates as it passes through the rest of the nucleus. The coherence length of charmonium production substantially exceeds the nuclear radius in the new energy range. Therefore the production amplitudes on different nucleons, rather than the cross sections, add up and interfere, i.e. shadowing is at work. So far no theoretical tool has been available to calculate nuclear effects for charmonium production in this energy regime. We develop a light-cone Green function formalism which incorporates the effects of the coherence of the production amplitudes and of charmonium wave function formation, and is the central result of this paper. We found a substantial deviation from QCD factorization, namely, gluon shadowing is much stronger for charmonium production than it is in DIS. We predict for nuclear effects $x_2$ scaling which is violated at lower energies by initial state energy loss which must be also included in order to compare with available data. In this paper only the indirect J/Psi originating from decay of P-wave charmonia are considered. The calculated x_F-dependence of J/Psi nuclear suppression is in a good accord with data. We predict a dramatic variation of nuclear suppression with x_F in pA and a peculiar peak at x_F=0 in AA collisions at RHIC.

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The color dipole approach to the Drell-Yan process in pA collisions

In the target rest frame and at high energies, Drell-Yan (DY) dilepton production looks like bremsstrahlung of massive photons, rather than parton annihilation. The projectile quark is decomposed into a series of Fock states. Configurations with fixed transverse separations are interaction eigenstates for pp scattering. The DY cross section can then be expressed in terms of the same color dipole cross section as DIS. This approach is especially suitable to describe nuclear effects, since it allows to apply Glauber multiple scattering theory. We go beyond the Glauber eikonal approximation by taking into account transitions between interaction eigenstates. We calculate nuclear shadowing at large Feynman-x_F for DY in proton-nucleus collisions, compare to existing data from E772 and make predictions for RHIC. Nuclear effects on the transverse momentum distribution are also investigated.

hep-ph↗

The color dipole picture of the Drell-Yan process

At high energies, Drell-Yan (DY) dilepton production viewed in the target rest frame should be interpreted as bremsstrahlung and can be expressed in terms of the same color dipole cross section as DIS. We compute DY cross sections on a nucleon target with the realistic parameterization for the dipole cross section saturated at large separations. The results are compared to experimental data and predictions for RHIC are presented. The transverse momentum distribution of the DY process is calculated and energy growth is expected to be steeper at large than at small transverse momenta. We also calculate the DY angular distribution and investigate deviations from the 1+cos^2(θ) shape.

hep-ph↗

From Hard to Soft Diffraction and Return

The long standing mystery of smallness of diffractive dissociation of hadrons to large effective masses (the Pomeron-proton cross section is only 2 mb) witnesses that the gluonic clouds of valence quarks are so small (r_0=0.3fm) that soft interaction hardly resolves those gluons (diffraction is \propto r_0^4). A color-dipole light-cone (LC) approach is developed which incorporates a strong nonperturbative interaction of the LC gluons. The energy dependent part of the total hadronic cross section is calculated in a parameter-free way employing the nonperturbative LC wave functions of the quark-gluon Fock states. It rises with energy as s^Δ, and we predict Δ=0.17 +/- 0.01, as well as the normalization. However, the energy independent part of the cross section related to inelastic collisions with no gluon radiated (gluons are not resolved) cannot be calculated reliably and we treat it as an adjustable parameter which is fixed fitting just one experimental point for total cross section. Then the energy dependence of the total cross section (the Pomeron part) and the elastic slope are fully predicted, as well as the effective Pomeron trajectory in impact parameter space, in a good agreement with data. These results naturally explain the x-dependence of the diffractive DIS observed at HERA. Although diffraction is expected to be dominated by soft interactions the observed effective Δis about twice as large as one (0.08) known for total cross sections. Diffractive excitations of large effective mass correspond to diffractive gluon radiation and should be associated with our calculated Δ.

hep-ph↗

The Coulomb Phase Revisited

Motivated by the forthcoming data from the E950 experiment at BNL for small angle polarized proton-carbon scattering we revisit the problem of Coulomb phase. The approximation usually used with the momentum transfer squared (q^2) small compared to the inverse elastic slope is not justified within the kinematics of the E950 experiment. We go beyond this approximation and derive a new rather simple expression which recovers the formula of Bethe at small q^2, but is valid at any momentum transfer.

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Energy loss of fast quarks in nuclei

We report an analysis of the nuclear dependence of the yield of Drell-Yan dimuons from the 800 GeV/c proton bombardment of $^2H$, C, Ca, Fe, and W targets. Employing a new formulation of the Drell-Yan process in the rest frame of the nucleus, this analysis examines the effect of initial-state energy loss and shadowing on the nuclear-dependence ratios versus the incident proton's momentum fraction and dimuon effective mass. The resulting energy loss per unit path length is $-dE/dz = 2.32 \pm 0.52\pm 0.5$ GeV/fm. This is the first observation of a nonzero energy loss of partons traveling in nuclear environment.

hep-ex↗

Soft QCD Dynamics of Elastic Scattering in Impact Parameter Representation

The elastic hadronic amplitude is calculated using the nonperturbative light-cone dipole representation for gluon bremsstrahlung. The data for large mass diffraction demand a two-scale structure of light hadrons: the gluon clouds of the valence quarks with a size of 0.3fm and the hadronic size 1fm. The presence of the two scales unavoidably leads to a specific form for the total hadronic cross section which consists of a steeply rising \propto s^Δ (Δ=0.17 +/- 0.01) term related to gluon radiation, and a large constant term originating from soft interactions which does not induce any gluon emission. Our calculations reproduce well the total cross sections and elastic slopes \cite{k3p}. To further test the model, we analyze the elastic pp and ppbar differential cross sections and extract the partial amplitudes in the impact parameter representation. The Pomeron trajectory as a function of the impact parameter is only slightly above one for central collisions, but steeply grows towards the periphery. The model predicts correctly the shape and energy dependence of the partial amplitude at all impact parameters.

hep-ph↗

Broadening of Transverse Momentum of Partons Propagating through a Medium

Broadening of the transverse momentum of a parton propagating through a medium is treated using the color dipole formalism, which has the advantage of being a well developed phenomenology in deep-inelastic scattering and soft processes. Within this approach, nuclear broadening should be treated as color filtering, i.e. absorption of large-size dipoles leading to diminishing (enlarged) transverse separation (momentum). We also present a more intuitive derivation based on the classic scattering theory of Molière. This derivation helps to understand the origin of the dipole cross section, part of which comes from attenuation of the quark, while another part is due to multiple interactions of the quark. It also demonstrates that the lowest-order rescattering term provides an A-dependence very different from the generally accepted A^{1/3} behavior. The effect of broadening increases with energy, and we evaluate it using different phenomenological models for the unintegrated gluon density. Although the process is dominated by soft interactions, the phenomenology we use is tested using hadronic cross section data.

hep-ph↗

Photoproduction of Charmonia and Total Charmonium-Proton Cross Sections

Elastic virtual photoproduction cross sections gamma^*p -> J/psi(psi')p and total charmonium-nucleon cross sections for J/psi, psi' and chi states are calculated in a parameter free way with the light-cone dipole formalism and the same input: factorization in impact parameters, light-cone wave functions for the gamma^* and the charmonia, and the universal phenomenological dipole cross section which is fitted to other data. The charmonium wave functions are calculated with four known realistic potentials, and two models for the dipole cross section are tested. Very good agreement with data for the cross section of charmonium photoproduction is found in a wide range of s and Q^2. The inclusion of the Melosh spin rotation increases the psi' photoproduction rate by a factor 2-3 and removes previously observed discrepancies in the psi' to J/psi ratio in photoproduction. We also calculate the charmonium-proton cross sections whose absolute values and energy dependences are found to correlate strongly with the sizes of the states.

hep-ph↗

Nuclear Shadowing and Coherence Length for Longitudinal and Transverse Photons

Motivated by the recent results for DIS off nuclei from the HERMES experiment we have performed a systematic study of shadowing for transverse and longitudinal photons. We found that the coherence length which controls the onset of nuclear shadowing at small x_{Bj} is much longer for longitudinal than transverse photons, and is much shorter for shadowing of gluons. The light-cone Green function approach we apply properly treats shadowing in the transition region x_{Bj}>0.01. It also incorporates the nonperturbative effects and is legitimate at small Q^2. We calculate nuclear shadowing and compare with data from the HERMES and NMC experiments. Although we expect different nuclear shadowing for longitudinal and transverse photons, numerically it cannot explain the strong effect observed by the HERMES collaboration.

hep-ph↗

Nonperturbative Gluon Radiation and Energy Dependence of Elastic Scattering

The energy dependence of the total hadronic cross sections is caused by gluon bremsstrahlung which we treat nonperturbatively. It is located at small transverse distances about 0.3 fm from the valence quarks. The cross section of gluon radiation is predicted to exponentiate and rise with energy as s^Δ with Δ=0.17 +/- 0.01. The total cross section also includes a large energy independent Born term which corresponds to no gluon radiation. The calculated total cross section and the slope of elastic scattering are in good agreement with the data.

hep-ph↗

Nonperturbative Effects in Gluon Radiation and Photoproduction of Quark Pairs

We introduce a nonperturbative interaction for light-cone fluctuations containing quarks and gluons. The $\bar qq$ interaction squeezes the transverse size of these fluctuations in the photon and one does not need to simulate this effect via effective quark masses. The strength of this interaction is fixed by data. Data on diffractive dissociation of hadrons and photons show that the nonperturbative interaction of gluons is much stronger. We fix the parameters for the nonperturbative quark-gluon interaction by data for diffractive dissociation to large masses (triple-Pomeron regime). This allows us to predict nuclear shadowing for gluons which turns out to be not as strong as perturbative QCD predicts. We expect a delayed onset of gluon shadowing at $x \leq 10^{-2}$ shadowing of quarks. Gluon shadowing turns out to be nearly scale invariant up to virtualities $Q^2\sim 4 GeV^2$ due to presence of a semihard scale characterizing the strong nonperturbative interaction of gluons. We use the same concept to improve our description of gluon bremsstrahlung which is related to the distribution function for a quark-gluon fluctuation and the interaction cross section of a $\bar qqG$ fluctuation with a nucleon. We expect the nonperturbative interaction to suppress dramatically the gluon radiation at small transverse momenta compared to perturbative calculations.

hep-ph↗