Centrality-dependent modification of hadron and jet production in electron-nucleus collisions

Centrality-dependent measurements of hadron and jet cross section attenuation in deep inelastic scattering on nuclei can shed new light on the physics of final-state interactions in the nuclear matter, including the path-length dependence of the in-medium parton shower formation and evolution. Recent simulation studies have demonstrated the feasibility of experimental centrality determination in $e$A reactions at the electron-ion collider via neutron detection in the zero-degree calorimeter. Motivated by these results, we present the first theoretical calculation of the production rate modification for hadrons and jets in central and peripheral $e$Pb collisions. We find that the variation in the suppression of inclusive jet cross section as a function of centrality is less than a factor of two. In more differential measurements, such as the distribution of hadrons versus the hadronization fraction $z_h$, the difference can be enhanced up to an order of magnitude.