Is heavy lepton pair production on nuclei really independent of nuclear size?

Abstract

We investigate the nuclear size dependence of the distribution of massive lepton pairs produced by hadronic beams. Our principle conclusion is that <p 2 T > of the lepton pair should have a substantial and readily observable component from nuclear rescattering even though the nuclear enhancement exponent α(p T ) lies within present experimental limits. We indicate the relevance of these effects to the study of quark propagation through nuclear matter.