An analysis is presented of inclusive π0 production in Z0 decays measured with the DELPHI detector. At low energies, π0 decays are reconstructed by using pairs of converted photons and combinations of converted photons and photons reconstructed in the barrel electromagnetic calorimeter (HPC). At high energies (up to $x_p={2cdot p≪/{sqrt s}=0.75}$) the excellent granularity of the HPC is exploited to search for two-photon substructures in single showers. The inclusive differential cross section is measured as a function of energy for qq̅ and bb̅ events. The number of π0’s per hadronic Z0 event is $N(≪^0)/Z_{had} ^0=9.2pm 0.2({⤪ stat})pm 1.0 ({⤪ syst})$ and for bb̅ events the number of π0’s is ${⤪ N}(≪^0)/{⤪ b⋏r b}=10.1pm 0.4({⤪ stat})pm 1.1 ({⤪ syst})$. The ratio of the number of π0’s in bb̅ events to hadronic Z0 events is less affected by the systematic errors and is found to be 1.09 ±0.05 ±0.01. The measured π0 cross sections are compared with the predictions of different parton shower models. For hadronic events, the peak position in the $xi_{⤪ p}={⤪ ln}(1/{⤪ x_p})$ distribution is $xi_p^{⋆ar}=3.90_{-0.14}^{+0.24}.$ The average number of π0’s from the decay of primary B hadrons is found to be N(B → π0X)/B hadron = 2.78 ± 0.15(stat) ± 0.60(syst).
Differential cross section for all events.
Mean PI0 multiplicity extrapolated below 0.011 with JETSET 7.3.
Differential cross section for the enriched (b bbar) data set.
A sample of events enriched in bb̄ quark pairs was selected in the data recorded by the DELPHI experiment at LEP during 1992 and 1993, by the presence of secondary decay vertices from short-lived particles. Using this sample, the average multiplicities of K s 0 , K ± , p(p̄), Λ( Λ ) and of charged particles in bb̄ events have been measured, distinguishing the component from fragmentation and the component coming from the decay of b-hadrons. The measurement of the average charge multiplicity in bb̄ events was used to compute the mean fractional beam energy carried by the primary b-hadron, and the difference in charged particle multiplicity between bb̄ events and light quark (uū, dd̄, ss̄) events.
Event multiplicity in bottom events.
Differential cross section for charged particles in BOTTOM tagged hemispheres.
Differential cross section for charged particles in untagged hemispheres.
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