We present improved measurements of the differential production rates of stable charged particles in hadronic Z0 decays, and of charged pions, kaons and protons identified over a wide momentum range using the SLD Cherenkov Ring Imaging Detector. In addition to flavor-inclusive Z0 decays, measurements are made for Z0 decays into light (u, d, s), c and b primary flavors, selected using the upgraded Vertex Detector. Large differences between the flavors are observed that are qualitatively consistent with expectations based upon previously measured production and decay properties of heavy hadrons. These results are used to test the predictions of QCD in the Modified Leading Logarithm Approximation, with the ansatz of Local Parton-Hadron Duality, and the predictions of three models of the hadronization process. The light-flavor results provide improved tests of these predictions, as they do not include the contribution of heavy-hadron production and decay; the heavy-flavor results provide complementary model tests. In addition we have compared hadron and antihadron production in light quark (as opposed to antiquark) jets. Differences are observed at high momentum for all three charged hadron species, providing direct probes of leading particle effects, and stringent constraints on models.
We present a measurement of the b-quark inclusive fragmentation function in Z0 decays using a novel kinematic B-hadron energy reconstruction technique. The measurement was performed using 350,000 hadronic Z0 events recorded in the SLD experiment at SLAC between 1997 and 1998. We compared the sacled B-hadron energy distribution with models of b-quark fragmentation and with several ad hoc functional forms. A number of models and functions are excluded by the data. The average scaled energy of weakly-decaying B hadrons was measured to be
The strong coupling alpha_s(M_Z^2) has been measured using hadronic decays of Z^0 bosons collected by the SLD experiment at SLAC. The data were compared with QCD predictions both at fixed order, O(alpha_s^2), and including resummed analytic formulae based on the next-to-leading logarithm approximation. In this comprehensive analysis we studied event shapes, jet rates, particle correlations, and angular energy flow, and checked the consistency between alpha_s(M_Z^2) values extracted from these different measures. Combining all results we obtain alpha_s(M_Z^2) = 0.1200 \pm 0.0025(exp.) \pm 0.0078(theor.), where the dominant uncertainty is from uncalculated higher order contributions.
We study the process $e^+e^-\to\pi^+\pi^-\pi^+\pi^-\gamma$, with a hard photon radiated from the initial state. About 60,000 fully reconstructed events have been selected from 89 $fb^{-1}$ of BaBar data. The invariant mass of the hadronic final state defines the effective \epem center-of-mass energy, so that these data can be compared with the corresponding direct $e^+e^-$ measurements. From the $4\pi$-mass spectrum, the cross section for the process $e^+e^-\to\pi^+\pi^-\pi^+\pi^-$ is measured for center-of-mass energies from 0.6 to 4.5 $GeV/c^2$. The uncertainty in the cross section measurement is typically 5%. We also measure the cross sections for the final states $K^+ K^- \pi^+\pi^-$ and $K^+ K^- K^+ K^-$. We observe the $J/\psi$ in all three final states and measure the corresponding branching fractions. We search for X(3872) in $J/\psi (\to\mu^+\mu^-) \pi^+\pi^-$ and obtain an upper limit on the product of the $e^+e^-$ width of the X(3872) and the branching fraction for $X(3872) \to J/\psi\pi^+\pi^-$.
The ratio R of the total cross section for e+e− annihilation into hadrons to the lowest-order QED cross section for e+e−→μ+μ− has been measured for center-of-mass energies ranging from 50 to 61.4 GeV. If we allow for an overall shift of —4.9%, about 1.5 times our estimated normalization error, the results are consistent with the standard-model predictions.
We present the charged-particle multiplicity distributions for e+e− annihilation at center-of-mass energies from 50 to 61.4 GeV. The results are based on a data sample corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of 30 pb−1 obtained with the AMY detector at the KEK storage ring TRISTAN. The charged-particle multiplicity distributions deviate significantly from the modified Poisson and pair Poisson distributions, but follow Koba-Nielsen-Olesen scaling and are well reproduced by the LUND parton-shower model.
We report a measurement of the exclusive $e^+e^- \to D^{(*)\pm}{D}{}^{*\mp}$ cross section as a function of center-of-mass energy near the $D^{(*)^{\pm}}{D}{}^{*\mp}$ threshold with initial state radiation. A partial reconstruction technique is used to increase the efficiency and to suppress background. The analysis is based on a data sample collected with the Belle detector at the $\Upsilon(4S)$ resonance and nearby continuum with an integrated luminosity of 547.8 $\mathrm{fb}^{-1}$ at the KEKB asymmetric-energy $e^+ e^-$ collider.
The production of $J/\psi$ mesons in continuum $e^+e^-$ annihilations has been studied with the BABAR detector at energies near the $\Upsilon(4S)$ resonance, approximately 10.6 GeV. The mesons are distinguished from $J/\psi$ production in B decays through their center-of-mass momentum and energy. We measure the cross section $e^+e^-\to J/\psi X$ to be $2.52\pm 0.21\pm 0.21$ pb: for momentum above 2 GeV/c, it is $1.87\pm 0.10\pm 0.15$ pb. We set a 90% confidence level upper limit on the branching fraction for direct $\Upsilon(4S)$\to J/\psi X$ decays at $4.7\times 10^{-4}$.
Measurements of inclusive transverse-momentum spectra for charged particles produced in proton-antiproton collisions at √2 of 630 and 1800 GeV are presented and compared with data taken at lower energies.
Using 116.1 fb^-1 of data collected by the BABAR detector, we present an analysis of Xic0 production in B decays and from the ccbar continuum, with the Xic0 decaying into Omega- K+ and Xi- pi+ final states. We measure the ratio of branching fractions B(Xic0 -> Omega- K+)/B(Xic0 -> Xi- pi+) to be 0.294 +- 0.018 +- 0.016, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic. The Xic0 momentum spectrum is measured on and 40 MeV below the Upsilon(4S) resonance. From these spectra the branching fraction product B(B -> Xic0 X) x B(Xic0 -> Xi- pi+) is measured to be (2.11 +- 0.19 +- 0.25) x 10^-4 and the cross-section product sigma(e+ e- -> Xic0 X) x B(Xic0 -> Xi- pi+) from the continuum is measured to be (388 +- 39 +- 41) fb at a center-of-mass energy of 10.58 GeV.