Energy dependence of nuclear effects in hadron-nucleus collisions

Abstract

The energy dependence of light and heavy particle production in hadron-nucleus collisions is discussed. Whereas the production mechanism at lower energies can be understood in the Glauber rescattering picture, experimental data at RHIC indicate that particles are mostly produced in coherent processes. The importance of energy-momentum conservation is shown to be crucial at forward rapidities for the whole energy range. We also discuss the behaviour of $\alpha (x_F)$ with energy for light particles and $J/\psi$. Finally, we make predictions for the future LHC experiment.