  We test the hypothesis that configurations of a proton with a large-$x$
parton, $x_p \gtrsim 0.1$, have a smaller than average size. The QCD $Q^2$
evolution equations suggest that these small configurations also have a
significantly smaller interaction strength, which has observable consequences
in collisions with nuclei. We perform a global analysis of jet production data
in proton- and deuteron-nucleus collisions at RHIC and the LHC. Using a model
which takes a distribution of interaction strengths into account, we
quantitatively extract the $x_p$-dependence of the average interaction
strength, $\sigma(x_p)$, over a wide kinematic range. By comparing the RHIC and
LHC results, our analysis finds that the interaction strength for small
configurations, while suppressed, grows faster with collision energy than does
that for average configurations. We check that this energy dependence is
consistent with the results of a method which, given $\sigma(x_p)$ at one
energy, can be used to quantitatively predict that at another. This finding
further suggests that at even lower energies, nucleons with a large-$x_p$
parton should interact much more weakly than those in an average configuration,
a phenomenon in line with explanations of the EMC effect for large-$x_p$ quarks
in nuclei based on color screening.
