Studying Color Transparency through u-Channel π⁰ Electroproduction off a Nuclear Target

The recent measurements of exclusive backward-angle meson electroproduction from Jefferson Lab hint at a new domain of applicability of the QCD collinear factorization framework in the special u-channel kinematics regime. As a signature of QCD degrees of freedom in nuclei, and as a co-requisite of reaching the factorization regime, Color Transparency is expected to manifest itself as an increase in nuclear transparency with increasing momentum transfer. With the most recent quasi-elastic C(e,e'p) data ruling out Color Transparency for this process up to Q²=14.2 GeV², while π electroproduction data in the forward region indicate CT effects, looking for CT in u-channel kinematics, where a fast nucleon is produced, has became a topic of debate. In this presentation, we present an idea that will attempt to test color transparency using a u-channel π⁰ electroproduction process: A(e,e'p)π⁰.