We present a study of the inclusive production of π 0 , η, K s 0 and Λ based on 929,000 hadronic Z decays recorded with the L3 detector at LEP. The measured inclusive momentum distributions have been compared with predictions from parton shower models as well as an analytical Quantum Chromodynamics calculation. Comparing to low energy e + e - data, we find that QCD describes the energy evolution of the hadron spectrum.
We have measured the inclusive production of γ, π0 and η ine+e− annihilation at the center of mass energy of 35 GeV. The differential cross sections, extended to the kinematical limit and measured with high accuracy, are found to be in good agreement with previously reported results. Using the measured spectra we determine the average multiplicity for each of these particle species.
Results are presented on an investigation of photons produced in multihadronic final states frome+e− annihilation at 35 GeV and 44 GeV center of mass energies. Scalling violation between 14 and 44 GeV is observed in inclusive photon spectra. Comparing inclusive π0 spectra with charged pion spectra it is found that the average π0 multiplicity exceeds the charged pion multiplicity scaled by factor of 0.5 by (16±5)% and (21±7)% at 35 and 44 GeV respectively. The excess can be attributed to isospin violating decays of hadrons. The η multiplicity is found to be 〈nη〈=0.64±0.09±0.06 at 35 GeV. With a significance of three standard deviations a signal from quark bremsstrahlung is observed. The measured charge asymmetry in hadronic final states, due to the interference between initial and final state radiation, ofA=−0.141±0.041 is in accord with QED expectations. An interference effect in the azimuth angle distribution of charged jets around the photon direction is observed for the first time.
The production of photons ine+e−→γ+hadrons is investigated at three centre of mass energies around 14, 22 and 34 GeV. On average, photons carry 25% of the total available energy, with a multiplicity similar to the charged multiplicity. The inclusive photon spectra are found to scale with the centre of mass energy as a function of the Feynman variablex. π0 and η mesons are reconstructed from their decay photons. The slopes of the spectra are similar to that for charged pions and approximate scaling is observed for π0 production. The mean π0 and η multiplicities are given. The observed photon yield can be fully accounted for by hadron decays and initial state radiation. However, up to one extra photon per event from other sources cannot be excluded.
We compared the multiplicities of pizero, eta, Kzero and of charged particles in quark and gluon jets in 3-jet events, as measured by the OPAL experiment at LEP. The comparisons were performed for distributions unfolded to 100% pure quark and gluon jets, at an effective scale Qjet which took into account topological dependences of the 3-jet environment. The ratio of particle multiplicity in gluon jets to that in quark jets as a function of Qjet for pizero, eta and Kzero was found to be independent of the particle species. This is consistent with the QCD prediction that the observed enhancement in the mean particle rate in gluon jets with respect to quark jets should be independent of particle species. In contrast to some theoretical predictions and previous observations, we observed no evidence for an enhancement of eta meson production in gluon jets with respect to quark jets, beyond that observed for charged particles. We measured the ratio of the slope of the average charged particle multiplicity in gluon jets to that in quark jets, C, and we compared it to a next-to-next-to-next-to leading order calculation. Our result, C=2.27+-0.20(stat+syst),is about one standard deviation higher than the perturbative prediction.
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.
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 report on a high statistics study of π0 and η production in continuum events and in direct decays of the Γ(1S) and Γ(2S) resonances. The measured production rates per event are\(\left\langle {n_{\pi ^0 } } \right\rangle\)=3.22 ± 0.07 ± 0.31 (3.97 ± 0.23 ± 0.38) and 〈nη〉=0.19 ± 0.04 ± 0.04 (0.40 ± 0.14 ± 0.09) for continuum events (direct Γ(1S) decays).
η production has been investigated by the Mark II collaboration at the SLAC e+e− storage ring PEP. η particles are reconstructed by their γγ decay mode. The η fragmentation function has been measured and found to be in good agreement with the Lund-model prediction. η′ production has been measured for the first time in high-energy e+e− annihilation. There is evidence at the 3σ level for Ds± decay into ηπ± and η′π±.