Hadron production in lepton-nucleus deep inelastic scattering is studied in a quark energy loss model. The leading-order computations for hadron multiplicity ratios are presented and compared with the selected HERMES pions production data with the quark hadronization occurring outside the nucleus by means of the hadron formation time. It is found that the obtained energy loss per unit length is 0.440±0.013 GeV/fm for an outgoing quark by the global fit. It is confirmed that the atomic mass number dependence of hadron attenuation is theoretically and experimentally in good agreement with the A2/3 power law for quark hadronization occurring outside the nucleus,
J/ψ suppression in p-A collisions is studied by considering the nuclear effects on parton distribution,energy loss of beam proton and the finial state energy loss of color octet cc. The leading-order computations for J/ψproduction cross-section ratios RW/Be（x F） are presented and compared with the selected E866 experimental data with the cc remaining colored on its entire path in the medium. It is shown that the combination of the different nuclear effects accounts quite well for the observed J/ψ suppression in the experimental data. It is found that the J/ψ suppression on RW/Be（x F） from the initial state nuclear effects is more important than that induced by the energy loss of color octet cc in the large x F region. Whether the cc pair energy loss is linear or quadratic with the path length is not determined. The obtained cc pair energy loss per unit path length α = 2.78±0.81 Ge V/fm, which indicates that the heavy quark in cold nuclear matter can lose more energy compared to the outgoing light quark.
