The scale dependence of the hadron multiplicity in quark and gluon jets and a precise determination of C(A)/C(F).

The DELPHI collaboration Abreu, P. ; Adam, W. ; Adye, T. ; et al.
Phys.Lett.B 449 (1999) 383-400, 1999.
Inspire Record 495414 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.49173

Data collected at the Z resonance using the DELPHI detector at LEP are used to determine the charged hadron multiplicity in gluon and quark jets as a function of a transverse momentum-like scale. The colour factor ratio, \cacf, is directly observed in the increase of multiplicities with that scale. The smaller than expected multiplicity ratio in gluon to quark jets is understood by differences in the hadronization of the leading quark or gluon. From the dependence of the charged hadron multiplicity on the opening angle in symmetric three-jet events the colour factor ratio is measured to be: C_A/C_F = 2.246 \pm 0.062 (stat.) \pm 0.080 (syst.) \pm 0.095 (theo.)

3 data tables

Charged multiplicity in events with a hard photon, as a function of the apparent centre-of-mass energy (SQRT(S)) of the hadronic system. The errors shown are statistical only.

Charged multiplicity in symmetric three jet events as function of the opening angle between the low energetic jets, THETA1. Jets are defined from charged and neutral particles using the DURHAM algorithm. The errors shown are statistical only.

Twice the difference of the multiplicity in three jet events and in qqbar events of comparable scale 2(N_3jet-N_qqbar). The three-jet event multiplicity isequal to the data of Fig. 3c), the qqbar-multiplicity is taken from a fit of th e e+e- data corrected for the varying b-quark contribution. This multiplicity can be identified with the multiplicity of a hypothetical gluon-gluon event. Thereis a normalization uncertainty (i.e. a scale independent constant) of the gluon -gluon event multiplicity which should not influence the slope of the gg-multiplicity with scale (see paper). The errors shown are statistical only.