Production of high-<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:mrow><mml:msub><mml:mrow><mml:mi>p</mml:mi></mml:mrow><mml:mrow><mml:mi>t</mml:mi></mml:mrow></mml:msub></mml:mrow></mml:math>jets in hadron-nucleus collisions

We present results on the production of jets and "jetlike" clusters in 800-GeV/c proton-nucleus ($pA$) collisions. Events with high values of transverse energy in the central kinematic region were selected for nuclear targets of H, Be, C, Cu, and Pb. A jet-finding algorithm was used in analyzing the data. The $A$ dependence of the jet and dijet cross sections was parametrized as ${A}^{\ensuremath{\alpha}}$. The values of $\ensuremath{\alpha}$ for events with "jetlike" cluster pairs found by the algorithm without any additional kinematic cuts reach a plateau of approximately 1.5 at dijet transverse energies &gt; GeV. The collimation of observed "jetlike" clusters decreases with $A$, and the fragmentation is softer for heavier target nuclei. However, nuclear effects become less pronounced with the increasing cluster or cluster-pair transverse energy. We argue that the observed nuclear enhancement for the production of "jetlike" clusters is due to underlying event or/and soft-scattering contributions to the heavy-nuclei data. We show that the nuclear enhancement becomes consistent with a value of $\ensuremath{\alpha}$ within 0.10 from unity once the data are corrected for the underlying event or kinematic cuts enhancing clear jet structure are applied.