The inclusive production rates and differential cross-sections of photons and mesons with a final state containing photons have been measured with the OPAL detector at LEP. The light mesons covered by the measurements are the \pi^0, \eta, \rho(770)+-, \omega(782), \eta'(958) and a_0(980)+-. The particle multiplicities per hadronic Z^0 decay, extrapolated to the full energy range, are: <n_\gamma> = 20.97 +/- 0.02 +/- 1.15, <n_\pi^0> = 9.55 +/- 0.06 +/- 0.75, <n_\eta> = 0.97 +/- 0.03 +/- 0.11, <n_\rho^+-> = 2.40 +/- 0.06 +/- 0.43, <n_\omega> = 1.04 +/- 0.04 +/- 0.14, <n_\eta> = 0.14 +/- 0.01 +/- 0.02, <n_a_0+-> = 0.27 +/- 0.04 +/- 0.10. where the first errors are statistical and the second systematic. In general, the results are in agreement with the predictions of the JETSET and HERWIG Monte Carlo models.
Particle multiplicities per hadronic decay extrapolated to the full energy range.
Photon fragmentation function.
Photon fragmentation function.
We present a study of the inclusive η production based on 300 000 hadronic Z 0 decays. The measured inclusive momentum distribution can be reproduced by parton shower Monte Carlo programs and also by an analytical QCD calculation. Comparing our results with low energy e + e − data, we find that QCD describes both the shape and the energy evolution of the η spectrum. The comparison of η production rates in quark- and gluon-enriched jet samples does not show statistically significant evidence for more abundant production of η mesons in gluon fragmentation.
Differential cross section for inclusive eta production, normalized to the total hadronic cross section.
Differential cross section for inclusive eta production, normalized to the total hadronic cross section.