Scaled energy (<i>z</i>) distributions of charged hadrons observed in deep-inelastic muon scattering at 490 GeV from xenon and deuterium targets

Abstract

Fermilab Experiment-665 measured deep-inelastic scattering of 490 GeV muons off deuterium and xenon targets. Events were selected with a range of energy exchange \ensuremath{\nu} from 100 GeV to 500 GeV and with large ranges of ${\mathit{Q}}^{2}$ and ${\mathit{x}}_{\mathrm{Bj}}$: 0.1 ${\mathrm{GeV}}^{2}$/${\mathit{c}}^{2}$${\mathit{Q}}^{2}$150 ${\mathrm{GeV}}^{2}$/${\mathit{c}}^{2}$ and 0.001${\mathit{x}}_{\mathrm{Bj}}$0.5. The fractional energy (z) distributions of forward-produced hadrons from the two targets have been compared as a function of the kinematics of the scattering; specifically, the kinematic region of ``shadowing'' has been compared to that of nonshadowing. The dependence of the distributions upon the order of the hadrons, determined by the fractional energies, has been examined as well; a strong degree of similarity has been observed in the shapes of the distributions of the different order hadrons. These z distributions, however, show no nuclear dependence, even in the kinematic region of shadowing.