In Search for (QUANTUM) Color Transparency

Abstract

Color transparency (CT) is an effect of suppression of nuclear shadowing of hard reactions, closely related to the color screening. A brief review of theoretical development and experimental search for CT, failed and successful, are presented. A special emphasis is made on a quantum-mechanical nature of CT, as opposed to a wide spread erroneousclassical treatment of this phenomenon. The typical predictions of the classical approach, all contradicting quantum mechanics are: - factorization of cross section of hard reactions on a nucleus;\\ - "nuclear transparency", a normalized ratio of nuclear to nucleon cross sections, cannot exceed one;\\ - the larger is a radius of a hadron, the stronger it attenuates in a nucleus;\\ - the higher is the energy of hadrons participating in a hard reaction, the less is the nuclear attenuation;\\ - due to CT hard processes provide a better opportunity to study Fermi-momentum distribution, than soft reactions; etc. (Talk presented at XXVIII Rencontres de Moriond, March 1993)