Anomalous nuclear enhancement of inclusive spectra at large transverse momentum

Abstract

We propose a parton-model interpretation of the "anomalous" nuclear enhancement of inclusive spectra, observed by Cronin et al. We argue that the picture representing a nucleus as a collection of quasifree nucleons in slow relative motion is incorrect when the nucleus is probed during a very short time. Our conjecture rests on an extension to nuclei of the parton model of Kuti and Weisskopf. We give a list of observable predictions concerning both hadronic and leptonic interactions with nuclei.