In this Report, QCD results obtained from a study of hadronic event structure in high energy e^+e^- interactions with the L3 detector are presented. The operation of the LEP collider at many different collision energies from 91 GeV to 209 GeV offers a unique opportunity to test QCD by measuring the energy dependence of different observables. The main results concern the measurement of the strong coupling constant, \alpha_s, from hadronic event shapes and the study of effects of soft gluon coherence through charged particle multiplicity and momentum distributions.
The structure of hadronic events fromZ0 decay is studied by measuring event shape variables, factorial moments, and the energy flow distribution. The distributions, after correction for detector effects and initial and final state radiation, are compared with the predictions of different QCD Monte Carlo programs with optimized parameter values. These Monte Carlo programs use either the second order matrix element or the parton shower evolution for the perturbative QCD calculations and use the string, the cluster, or the independent fragmentation model for hadronization. Both parton shower andO(α2s matrix element based models with string fragmentation describe the data well. The predictions of the model based on parton shower and cluster fragmentation are also in good agreement with the data. The model with independent fragmentation gives a poor description of the energy flow distribution. The predicted energy evolutions for the mean values of thrust, sphericity, aplanarity, and charge multiplicity are compared with the data measured at different center-of-mass energies. The parton shower based models with string or cluster fragmentation are found to describe the energy dependences well while the model based on theO(α2s calculation fails to reproduce the energy dependences of these mean values.
Measurements of the charged multiplicities for hadron production in e + e − annihilation in the center of mass energy range 9–32 GeV have been made. The average charged multiplicity has an energy dependence much stronger than ln s and similar to that reported for pp collisions. Quantitative differences are observed in the magnitude of both the average multiplicity 〈 n ch 〉 and the dispersion D ch for e + e − and pp interactions at the same center of mass energy. 〈 n ch 〉 and the ratio 〈 n ch / D ch in e + e − annihilations are significantly larger than in pp collisions and are found to be in overall agreement with QCD predictions. KNO scaling is seen to be satisfied.
Hadron production by e + e − annihilation has been studied for c.m. energies W between 13 and 31.6 GeV. As a function of 1n W the charged particle multiplicity grows faster at high energy than at lower energies. This is correlated with a rise in the plateau of the rapidity distribution. The cross section s d σ /d x is found to scale within ±30% for x > 0.2 and 5 ⩽ W ⩽ 31.6 GeV.
This analysis, based on a sample of 170000 hadronic Z0 decays, provides a measurement of the K ± and p/ p differential cross sections which is compared to string- and cluster fragmentation models. The total multiplicities for K ± and p/ p per hadronic event were found to be: NK = 2.26 ± 0.18 and N p = 1.07 ± 0.14. The positions ξ * of the maxima of the differential cross sections as a function of ξ = ln(1/ x p ) for K ± and p/ p were determined to be 2.63 ± 0.07 and 2.96 ± 0.16 respectively. A comparison of the ξ * values for various identified particles measured at LEP with the prediction of the Modified Leading Logarithm Approximation with Local Parton Hadron Duality model has been performed. The measured ξ * position as a function of the hadron mass, after corrections due to particle decays, is in agreement with the model calculation.
A study of the production of strange octet and decuplet baryons in hadronic decays of the Z recorded by the DELPHI detector at LEP is presented. This includes the first measurement of the∑± average multiplicity. The total and differential cross sections, the event topology and the baryon-antibaryon correlations are compared with current hadronization models.
We have studied hadronic events produced at LEP at a centre-of-mass energy of 161 GeV. We present distributions of event shape variables, jet rates, charged particle momentum spectra and multiplicities. We determine the strong coupling strength to be αs(161 GeV) = 0.101±0.005(stat.)±0.007(syst.), the mean charged particle multiplicity to be 〈nch〉(161 GeV) = 24.46 ± 0.45(stat.) ± 0.44(syst.) and the position of the peak in the ξp = ln(1/xp) distribution to be ξ0(161 GeV) = 4.00 ±0.03(stat.)±0.04(syst.). These results are compared to data taken at lower centre-of-mass energies and to analytic QCD or Monte Carlo predictions. Our measured value of αs(161 GeV) is consistent with other measurements of αs. Within the current statistical and systematic uncertainties, the PYTHIA, HERWIG and ARIADNE QCD Monte Carlo models and analytic calculations are in overall agreement with our measurements. The COJETS QCD Monte Carlo is in general agreement with the data for momentum weighted distributions like Thrust, but predicts a significantly larger charged particle multiplicity than is observed experimentally.
A measurement of the inclusive production of π0 mesons in hadronic Z decays is presented and compared to Monte Carlo model predictions. The analysis is based on approximately 2 million hadronic events recorded with the ALEPH detector at LEP at a centre-of-mass energy of ⊡s = 91.2 GeV. Neutral pions are reconstructed using photons measured in the electromagnetic calorimeter and photons from conversion pairs. The inclusive π0 momentum spectrum is measured in the range 0.025 < xp = p/pbeam < 1. In this range the number of π0 per hadronic Z is found to be 4.80 ± 0.07(stat) ± 0.31(sys). The differential inclusive π0 cross section is also measured as a function of transverse momentum with respect to the event plane (pTin and pTout).
Previously published and as yet unpublished QCD results obtained with the ALEPH detector at LEP1 are presented. The unprecedented statistics allows detailed studies of both perturbative and non-perturbative aspects of strong interactions to be carried out using hadronic Z and tau decays. The studies presented include precise determinations of the strong coupling constant, tests of its flavour independence, tests of the SU(3) gauge structure of QCD, study of coherence effects, and measurements of single-particle inclusive distributions and two-particle correlations for many identified baryons and mesons.
We employ data taken by the JADE and OPAL experiments for an integrated QCD study in hadronic e+e- annihilations at c.m.s. energies ranging from 35 GeV through 189 GeV. The study is based on jet-multiplicity related observables. The observables are obtained to high jet resolution scales with the JADE, Durham, Cambridge and cone jet finders, and compared with the predictions of various QCD and Monte Carlo models. The strong coupling strength, alpha_s, is determined at each energy by fits of O(alpha_s^2) calculations, as well as matched O(alpha_s^2) and NLLA predictions, to the data. Matching schemes are compared, and the dependence of the results on the choice of the renormalization scale is investigated. The combination of the results using matched predictions gives alpha_s(MZ)=0.1187+{0.0034}-{0.0019}. The strong coupling is also obtained, at lower precision, from O(alpha_s^2) fits of the c.m.s. energy evolution of some of the observables. A qualitative comparison is made between the data and a recent MLLA prediction for mean jet multiplicities.