Relativistic light-on-heavy nuclear collisions and the implied rapidity asymmetry

Abstract

We calculate pseudorapidity ($\eta$) asymmetry in $pA$ and $dA$ collisions in a pQCD-improved parton model. With the calculations tuned to describe existing spectra from $pp$ collisions and asymmetric systems at midrapidity and large rapidities at FNAL and RHIC energies, we investigate the roles of nuclear shadowing and multiple scattering on the observed asymmetry. Using this framework, we make predictions for pseudorapidity asymmetries at high $p_T$ and large $\eta$ in a wide range of energies up to LHC.