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M. B. Johnson

Publications and source records attributed to M. B. Johnson.

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Cronin effect in the Drell-Yan reaction

We explore the mechanism of transverse momentum broadening of fast quarks propagating in nuclei, using Drell-Yan (DY) transverse momentum distributions measured in the experiment E866 at FermiLab with beams of 800 GeV protons. Our theoretical analysis is based on the color dipole approach in the target rest frame, which has provided a successful phenomenological description of a variety of hadronic reactions. The present application is relevant to the regime of short coherence length (SCL), where the spatial extent of the fluctuations of the projectile responsible for the Drell-Yan reaction is short compared to the internucleon spacing. In this limit, momentum broadening comes from initial state interactions and is described as color filtering, i.e. absorption of large-size dipoles leading to diminished transverse separation and hence enhanced transverse momentum. The predictions we present are in good agreement with the E866 data. The interactions leading to the acquisition of transverse momentum arise from the color-dipole cross section determined previously from deep-inelastic scattering on proton targets. Aside from the determination of the color-dipole cross section, no other phenomenological input is needed to explain the experimental results. The mean-square momentum broadening of dileptons determined in a recent separate analysis of the data is likewise well described by our theory. These results confirm that the origin of momentum broadening in DY is the color dipole cross section mediating soft initial state interactions between the parton of the projectile that initiates the reaction and the nucleons of the nucleus, as provided by the color dipole description. Predictions for broadening observables at RHIC are presented.

hep-ph

Nuclear Broadening of Transverse Momentum in Drell-Yan Reactions

Data for Drell-Yan (DY) processes on nuclei are currently available from fixed target experiments up to the highest energy of $\sqrt{s}=40\GeV$. The bulk of the data cover the range of short coherence length, where the amplitudes of the DY reaction on different nucleons do not interfere. In this regime, DY processes provide direct information about broadening of the transverse momentum of the projectile parton experiencing initial-state multiple interactions. We revise a previous analysis of data from the E772 experiment and perform a new analysis of broadening including data from the E866 experiment at Fermilab. We conclude that the observed broadening is about twice as large as the one found previously. This helps to settle controversies that arose from a comparison of the original determination of broadening with data from other experiments and reactions.

hep-ph

Open charm tomography of cold nuclear matter

We study the relative contribution of partonic sub-processes to D meson production and D meson-triggered inclusive di-hadrons to lowest order in perturbative QCD. While gluon fusion dominates the creation of large angle DD-bar pairs, charm on light parton scattering determines the yield of single inclusive D mesons. The distinctly different non-perturbative fragmentation of c quarks into D mesons versus the fragmentation of quarks and gluons into light hadrons results in a strong transverse momentum dependence of anticharm content of the away-side charm-triggered jet. In p+A reactions, we calculate and resum the coherent nuclear-enhanced power corrections from the final state partonic scattering in the medium. We find that single and double inclusive open charm production can be suppressed as much as the yield of neutral pions from dynamical high-twist shadowing. Effects of energy loss in p+A collisions are also investigated phenomenologically and may lead to significantly weaker transverse momentum dependence of the nuclear attenuation.

hep-ph

Breakdown of QCD factorization at large Feynman x

Recent measurements by the BRAHMS collaboration of high-pT hadron production at forward rapidities at RHIC found the relative production rate(d-Au)/(p-p) to be suppressed, rather than enhanced. Examining other known reactions (forward production of light hadrons, the Drell-Yan process, heavy flavor production, etc.), one notes that all of these display a similar property, namely, their cross sections in nuclei are suppressed at large xF. Since this is the region where x2 is minimal, it is tempting to interpret this as a manifestation of coherence, or of a color glass condensate, whereas it is actually a simple consequence of energy conservation and takes place even at low energies. We demonstrate that in all these reactions there is a common suppression mechanism that can be viewed, alternatively, as a consequence of a reduced survival probability for large rapidity gap processes in nuclei, Sudakov suppression, an enhanced resolution of higher Fock states by nuclei, or an effective energy loss that rises linearly with energy. Our calculations agree with data.

hep-ph

Majorana-Like (j,0)+(0,j) Representation Spaces: Construction and Physical Interpretation

We present a formalism that extends the Majorana-construction to arbitrary spin (j,0)+(0,j) representation spaces. For the example case of spin-1, a wave equation satisfied by the Majorana-like (1,0)+(0,1) spinors is constructed and its physical content explored. The (j,0)+(0,j) Majorana-construct is found to possess an unusual classical and quantum field theoretic structure. Relevance of our formalism to parity violation, hadronic phenomenologies, and grand unified field theories is briefly pointed out.

hep-th

Nuclear effects in the Drell-Yan process at very high energies

We study Drell-Yan (DY) dilepton production in proton(deuterium)-nucleus and in nucleus-nucleus collisions within the light-cone color dipole formalism. This approach is especially suitable for predicting nuclear effects in the DY cross section for heavy ion collisions, as it provides the impact parameter dependence of nuclear shadowing and transverse momentum broadening, quantities that are not available from the standard parton model. For p(D)+A collisions we calculate nuclear shadowing and investigate nuclear modification of the DY transverse momentum distribution at RHIC and LHC for kinematics corresponding to coherence length much longer than the nuclear size. Calculations are performed separately for transversely and longitudinally polarized DY photons, and predictions are presented for the dilepton angular distribution. Furthermore, we calculate nuclear broadening of the mean transverse momentum squared of DY dileptons as function of the nuclear mass number and energy. We also predict nuclear effects for the cross section of the DY process in heavy ion collisions. We found a substantial nuclear shadowing for valence quarks, stronger than for the sea.

hep-ph

Energy loss of fast quarks in nuclei

We report an analysis of the nuclear dependence of the yield of Drell-Yan (DY) dimuons from the 800 GeV/c proton bombardment of $^2H$, C, Ca, Fe, and W targets. A light-cone formulation of the DY process is employed in the rest frame of the nucleus. In this frame, for $x_2\ll x_1$, DY production appears as bremsstrahlung of a virtual photon followed by decay into dileptons. We treat the two sources of nuclear suppression, energy loss and shadowing, in a consistent formulation. Shadowing, involving no free parameters, is calculated within the light-cone dipole formalism. Initial-state energy loss, the only unknown in the problem, is determined from a fit to the nuclear-dependence ratio versus $x_1$. With the assumption of constant energy loss per unit path length, we find $-dE/dz = 2.32 \pm 0.52\pm 0.5$ GeV/fm. This is the first observation of a nonzero energy loss of partons traveling in nuclear environment.

hep-ex

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

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

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

(J,0)+(0,j) Representation Space: Dirac-Like Construct

This is first of the two invited lectures presented (by D. V. Ahluwalia) at the ``XVII International School of Theoretical Physics: Standard Model and Beyond' 93.'' The text is essentially based on a recent publication by the present authors [Phys. Lett. B 316 (1993) 102]. Here we show that the Dirac-like construct in the $(j,0)\oplus(0,j)$ representation space supports a Bargmann-Wightman-Wigner-type quantum field theory.

hep-th

(J,0)+(0,j) Representation Space: Majorana-Like Construct

This is second of the two invited lectures presented (by D. V. Ahluwalia) at the ``XVII International School of Theoretical Physics: Standard Model and Beyond' 93.'' The text is essentially based on a recent publication by the present authors [Mod. Phys. Lett. A (in press)]. Here, after briefly reviewing the $(j,0)\oplus(0,j)$ Dirac-like construct in the front form, we present a detailed construction of the $(j,0)\oplus(0,j)$ Majorana-like fields.

hep-th

A Bargmann-Wightman-Wigner Type Quantum Field Theory

This version corrects an inportant typographical error in Eq. 17. COMMENTS, FOR THE RECORD: A referees reoprt from Phys. Rev. Lett. read in part ``The first named author has appreciated my exceptionally long report. He has read and well assimilated the literature I suggested. Congratulations! This very new version of the manuscript has now three authors and carries a very well chosen title. Indeed Bargmann, Wightman and Wigner had studied, this subject forty years ago, in an unpublished book (several chapters were distributed as preprints). The authors explain well the scope of their paper. They have made a thorough construction of a field theory of a non usual Wigner type; that is completely new and all references are relevant. {\it This paper should be published.}" Despite the fact that no other report was received, the editors of Phys. Rev. Lett. rejected this paper. D.V.A.

hep-ph

Microscopic approach to pion-nucleus dynamics

Elastic scattering of pions from finite nuclei is investigated utilizing a contemporary, momentum--space first--order optical potential combined with microscopic estimates of second--order corrections. The calculation of the first--order potential includes:\ \ (1)~full Fermi--averaging integration including both the delta propagation and the intrinsic nonlocalities in the $π$-$N$ amplitude, (2)~fully covariant kinematics, (3)~use of invariant amplitudes which do not contain kinematic singularities, and (4)~a finite--range off--shell pion--nucleon model which contains the nucleon pole term. The effect of the delta--nucleus interaction is included via the mean spectral--energy approximation. It is demonstrated that this produces a convergent perturbation theory in which the Pauli corrections (here treated as a second--order term) cancel remarkably against the pion true absorption terms. Parameter--free results, including the delta--nucleus shell--model potential, Pauli corrections, pion true absorption, and short--range correlations are presented. (2 figures available from authors)

nucl-th

High-energy pion-nucleus elastic scattering

We investigate theoretical approaches to pion--nucleus elastic scattering at high energies (300 $\le T_π\le$ 1 GeV). A ``model--exact'' calculation of the lowest--order microscopic optical model, carried out in momentum space and including the full Fermi averaging integration, a realistic off--shell pion--nucleon scattering amplitude and fully covariant kinematics, is used to calibrate a much simpler theory. The simpler theory utilizes a local optical potential with an eikonal propagator and includes the Coulomb interaction and the first Wallace correction, both of which are found to be important. Comparisons of differential cross sections out to beyond the second minimum are made for light and heavy nuclei. Particularly for nuclei as heavy as $^{40}$Ca, the eikonal theory is found to be an excellent approximation to the full theory. (8 Figures available from authors)

nucl-th