Parton Propagation and Fragmentation in QCD Matter

Abstract

We review recent progress in the study of parton propagation, interaction and fragmentation in both cold and hot strongly interacting matter. Experimental highlights on high-energy hadron production in deep inelastic lepton-nucleus scattering, proton-nucleus and heavy-ion collisions, as well as Drell-Yan processes in hadron-nucleus collisions are presented. The existing theoretical frameworks for describing the in-medium interaction of energetic partons and the space-time evolution of their fragmentation into hadrons are discussed and confronted to experimental data. We conclude with a list of theoretical and experimental open issues, and a brief description of future relevant experiments and facilities.Comment: Invited review paper for "Rivista del Nuovo Cimento". 112 pages, 67 figures, 13 table