Hadron formation in semi-inclusive deep inelastic lepton-nucleus scattering

Hadron production in lepton-nucleus deep inelastic scattering is studied in a model including quark energy loss and nuclear absorption. The leading-order computations for hadron multiplicity ratios are presented and compared with the selected HERMES experimental data with the quark hadronization occurring inside the nucleus by means of the hadron formation time. It is shown that with increase of the energy fraction carried by the hadron, the nuclear suppression on hadron multiplicity ratio from nuclear absorption gets bigger. It is found that when hadronization occurs inside the nucleus, the nuclear absorption is the dominant mechanism causing a reduction of the hadron yield. The atomic mass dependence of hadron attenuation for quark hadronization starting inside the nucleus is confirmed theoretically and experimentally to be proportional to A1/3.