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Atomic mass dependence of hadron production in semi-inclusive deep inelastic lepton-nucleus scattering

Hadron production in lepton-nucleus deep inelastic scattering is studied in a quark energy loss model. The leading-order computations for hadron multiplicity ratios are presented and compared with the selected HERMES pions production data with the quark hadronization occurring outside the nucleus by means of the hadron formation time. It is found that the obtained energy loss per unit length is $0.440 \pm 0.013$ GeV/fm for an outgoing quark by the global fit. It is confirmed that the atomic mass number dependence of hadron attenuation is theoretically and experimentally in good agreement with the $A^{2/3}$ power law for quark hadronization occurring outside the nucleus.