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  • Open Access

Fresh look at the nuclear transparency using the generalized parton distributions

Muhammad Goharipour1,2,*, Fatemeh Irani3,†, K. Azizi3,4,2,‡, and Dipangkar Dutta5,§ (MMGPDs Collaboration)

  • *Contact author: muhammad.goharipour@ipm.ir
  • †Contact author: f.irani@ut.ac.ir
  • ‡Contact author: kazem.azizi@ut.ac.ir
  • §Contact author: d.dutta@msstate.edu
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Phys. Rev. D 112, 094006 – Published 5 November, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/w98z-fdzq

Abstract

Color transparency (CT) is a fundamental phenomenon in QCD in which hadrons produced in high-energy exclusive processes traverse nuclear matter with minimal interactions. Nuclear transparency, which quantifies this attenuation suppression, is a quantity with high sensitivity to CT effects and provides critical insights into QCD dynamics in nuclear environments. In this study, we revisit nuclear transparency using the framework of generalized parton distributions (GPDs). By constructing nuclear GPDs (nGPDs) through the incorporation of nuclear parton distribution functions, we calculate the nuclear transparency T(Q2) for the carbon nucleus as a function of momentum transfer Q2 considering various definitions and compare the results obtained with available experimental data. Our finding highlights the importance of choosing a physically motivated definition of nuclear transparency. Moreover, we emphasize that a more reliable determination of nGPDs requires a dedicated global analysis incorporating nuclear data. Such an approach is essential for improving the theoretical understanding of CT and for achieving consistency with experimental observations in the high-Q2 regime.

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Phys. Rev. D 112, 094006– Published 5 November, 2025
  • Received 8 July 2025
  • Accepted 17 October 2025
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP3.

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