The unexpected energy dependence of high-energy fixed-angle pp elastic scattering in a nuclear target can be intrepreted in terms of interference between two perturbative QCD subprocesses. By proposing the attenuation of Landshoff-type contributions in nuclei, we obtain a parameter-free relation that matches the energy dependence of the data of Carroll et al. The approximations improve with larger A and higher energy, leading to a prediction of oscillatory energy dependence for the transparency ratio at higher energy.

• Received 6 June 1988

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.61.1823