Multiple parton scattering in nuclei: parton energy loss

Multiple parton scattering and induced parton energy loss are studied in deeply inelastic scattering (DIS) off nuclei. The effect of multiple scattering of a highly off-shell quark and the induced parton energy loss is expressed in terms of the modification to the quark fragmentation functions. We derive such modified quark fragmentation functions and their QCD evolution equations in DIS using the generalized factorization of higher twist parton distributions. We consider double-hard and hard-soft parton scattering as well as their interferences in the same framework. The final result, which depends on both the diagonal and off-diagonal twist-four parton distributions in nuclei, demonstrates clearly the Landau-Pomeranchuk-Migdal interference features and predicts a unique nuclear modification of the quark fragmentation functions. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.