The role of valence quarks in proton fragmentation

Following earlier theoretical and experimental work (Kalinowski et al. [6], Bourquin et al. [7]), baryon production by fragmentation of incident protons in high energy hadron collisions is re-investigated in terms of a fragmentation-recombination mechanism similar to a model proposed by Fukuda and Iso [4]. The multiplicitiesn _f (B) for the various types of baryonsB produced in proton fragmentation are expressed in terms of the probabilitiesa _i fori=0, ..., 3 valence quarks of the incident proton to emerge in the baryonB and 3?i to emerge in mesons (following [7] we suppose that antibaryon production is mostly due to baryon-antibaryon pair production by a mechanism of non-fragmentation type, and this is taken into account in deducingn _f (B) from baryon and antibaryon multiplicity data). The positivity of thea _i is found to impose remarkably narrow constraints on then _f (B) for (meta)stableB, and we find the data to satisfy these constraints. We show furthermore that the data are compatible with uncorrelated behaviour of the valence quarks of the incident proton, each of them having a probability ? 0.6 to emerge in the fragmentation baryonB, and a probability ? 0.4 to emerge in a meson. We also briefly discuss the relation of our analysis to previous work on the recombination model of proton fragmentation and its possible extension to meson fragmentation.     

An experimental check of the quark-model relations for inclusive reactions

The quark-model relations for inclusive reactions obtained in the previous paper by two of the authors are compared with existing experimental data. The x and p_T² distributions are considered for hadrons produced as a result of fragmentation of an incident meson or nucleon, with the kinematics of the resonance decay being taken into account. The predictions of the quark model are in a reasonable agreement with experiment, both in the shape of spectra and in the absolute magnitude of cross sections. A number of predictions is obtained for cross sections of some inclusive reactions which are not yet measured.     

The hadronisation of a quark-gluon plasma

We consider two scenarios for the expansion of a quark-gluon plasma. If the evolution is slow enough, the system can remain in equilibrium throughout its entire history up to the freeze-out of a hadron gas; for a very rapid expansion, it may break up into hadrons before or at the confinement transition, without ever going through an equilibrium hadron phase. We compare hadron production rates in the two approaches and show that for a hadronisation temperatureT?200 MeV and baryonic chemical potential μ _B ?500 MeV, their predictions essentially coincide. Present data on strange particle production lead to values in this range and hence cannot provide a distinction between the two scenarios. Pion, nucleon and non-strange meson production seem to require a considerably lower freeze-out temperature and baryonic chemical potential. In the hadron gas picture, this is in accord with the difference in mean free path of the different hadrons in the medium; it suggests a sequential freeze-out, in which strange hadrons stop interacting earlier than non-strange hadrons. In the quark-gluon plasma break-up, the hadronic final state fails to provide the high entropy per baryon observed in non-strange hadron production. The break-up moreover leads to a decrease of the entropy per baryon; hence it must be conceptually modified before it can be considered as a viable hadronisation mechanism.     

Determination of meson resonance contributions to pion and kaon inclusive spectra

π- andK-meson inclusive spectra with low transverse momenta inK-meson fragmentation region inKp-interactions are determined on the basis of the assumption on a recombination mechanism of hadron production. It is shown that the pion and kaon spectra (both “direct” and from resonance decay) inK-meson fragmentation region can be expressed by structure functions of initialK-meson. Contributions from resonance decays from different meson multiplets (vector, axial and tensor) to pion and kaon inclusive spectra are determined. α=(3A _T /5A _V )=0.28±0.02 is found for the suppression factor ofP-wave meson state production as compared to theS-wave one. It is shown that with decreasing final meson mass the relative contribution of direct production to meson inclusive spectrum increases. In the limits of available experimental errors in meson resonance spectra there is found no dependence of meson yields on the value of summary spin of quark and antiquark producing meson (β=3A _P /A _V =1). It is shown that analysis of meson resonance inclusive spectra allows one to determine not only the parameters of valence quark distribution in the initialK-meson but also the sea parton distributions. For the strange sea quark distribution inK-meson there is founds _S(x) ～(1?x) ^ns wheren _S =4.8±1.0, which agrees with the prediction of the quark counting rules for this quantity.     

Hadron clusters with quark core and multiplicity distributions

Multiplicity distributions of ground state hadrons (pseudoscalar and vector meson nonet and baryon octet and decuplet) are investigated in a model of hadron clusters based of subsequent hadron emission by quarks. The effects of resonance decay for the observed (stable) hadron multiplicities are also considered. Average numbers of different hadrons are calculated as a function of the number of charged pions. The results are compared with available data and a good overall agreement is found.     

Phenomenology of the ψ (3105) and the hypothesis of charm

We estimate the effective coupling strengths of the ψ(3105) to ordinary hadrons and examine possibility that this resonance is the uncharmed vector meson φ_c composed predominantly of charmed quarks. Distinctive decay modes of φ_c are pointed out.     

Hadron properties and Dyson-Schwinger equations

An overview of the theory and phenomenology of hadrons and QCD is provided from a Dyson-Schwinger equation viewpoint. Following a discussion of the definition and realization of light-quark confinement, the nonperturbative nature of the running mass in QCD and inferences from the gap equation relating to the radius of convergence for expansions of observables in the current-quark mass are described. Some exact results for pseudoscalar mesons are also highlighted, with details relating to the U_A(1) problem, and calculated masses of the lightest J=0,1 states are discussed. Studies of nucleon properties are recapitulated upon and illustrated: through a comparison of the ln-weighted ratios of Pauli and Dirac form factors for the neutron and proton; and a perspective on the contribution of quark orbital angular momentum to the spin of a nucleon at rest. Comments on prospects for the future of the study of quarks in hadrons and nuclei round out the contribution.     

Quark model for multiparticle and inclusive reactions

The relative multiplicity of different hadrons produced in high-energy collisions is found in the framework of the quark model. Appart from the usual hypothesis about the quark structure of hadrons, two extra assumptions are made. Firstly, produced particles are supposed to be mainly the members of the meson 36-plet and baryon (antibaryon) 56-plet. Secondly, production of strange quarks is assumed to be suppressed relative to non-strange quarks roughly by a factor of three, as taken from experiment. In the small-x region the agreement with experimental data is satisfactory. In the fragmentation region it is necessary to take into account the kinematics of the resonant state's decay. The influence of such decay on the x and p_T² distributions of hadrons is discussed.     

Collective characteristics of hadron systems produced in beam fragmentation of π+ p collisions at 250 GeV/c

Collective characteristics are studied of hadrons produced in beam fragmentation of non-single-diffractive π⁺ p-interactions at 250 GeV/c. An attempt is made to obtain experimental information on the properties of leading cluster production and fragmentation. On average, the leading cluster carries 0.8±0.1 of the incident momentum, so that the mean value of the inelasticity coefficient of 〈k〉=0.2±0.1 is significantly smaller than that deduced from leading single hadron spectra. The momentum transfer distribution shows that nonsingle-diffractive processes are less peripheral than diffraction dissociation. The analysis of thrust and sphericity shows jet-like structure of pion fragmentation, that of the charge flow an average forward charge of 〈Q _f 〉=0.45±0.04, in agreement with the average charge of the beam valence quarks. Our data are compared to diffraction dissociation and to the Fritiof model.     

Polarized coincidence electroproduction scaling laws for the final state

We study the inclusive electroproduction of single hadrons off a polarized target. Bjorken scaling laws and the hadron azimuthal distribution are derived from the quark parton model.The polarization asymmetries scale when the target spin is along the direction of the virtual photon, and (apart from one significant exception) vanish for transverse spin. These results have a simple explanation; emphasis is given both to the general mathematical formalism and to intuitive physical reasoning.Through this framework we consider other cases: quarks with anomalous magnetic moment; renormalization group effects and asymptotic freedom; production of vector mesons (whose spin state is analysed by their decay); relation to large transverse momentum hadron production; and a covariant parton model calculation. We also look into spin-0 partons and Regge singularities.All of these cases (apart from the last two) modify the pattern of conclusions. Vector meson production shows polarization enhancements in the density matrix element ?₀₊; the renormalization group approach does not lead to any significant suppressions. They are also less severe in parton models for large p_T hadrons, and are not supported by the covariantly formulated calculation. The origins of these differences are isolated and used to exemplify the sensitivity that polarized hadron electroproduction has to delicate detail that is otherwise concealed.     

A new method to determine the electroweak couplings of individual light flavours at LEP

A method is presented for determining the yields and properties of individual light quark flavours in Z ⁰ decays that is essentially free of detailed assumptions about hadronisation. The method uses an equation system with the number of events which are single and double tagged by high energy hadrons as inputs. In addition, SU(2) isospin symmetry and the flavour independence of QCD are used to derive general relations between hadron production from the various primary light quarks. Assuming the branching fractions R _q of the Z ⁰ into down and strange quarks to be the same, five million hadronic Z ⁰ decays may allow precisions of δ(R _d = R _s)/(R _d = R _s) ～ 0.05 and δA _FB(d = s) ～ δA _fb(u) ～ 0.015 for the corresponding asymmetries. The method can be extended to include somewhat more model dependent symmetries of hadron production, which then allows the electroweak observables for each of the individual light quarks to be determined.     

High-energy hadron-hadron collisions and internal hadron structure

As shown by many authors, central particle emission in pp collisions at centre-of-mass energies ? 20 GeV can be described in terms of independent cluster production. In ref. [1] this process has been related to the quark-gluon picture of nucleon structure. The present paper carries this relation further and links the leading particle spectrum of non-diffractive hadron-hadron collisions to the x distribution of quarks in the hadron. Thus, the flat leading particle spectrum, as observed in non-diffractive pp collisions, is found to be naturally related to the steeply falling x distribution of quarks in the nucleon, as deduced from the structure functions measured in deep inelastic scattering of electrons and neutrinos on nucleons. Our analysis is extended to meson-nucleon collisions and leads to a prediction of the general shape of the quark x distribution in a meson.     

Asymmetry in charmed-particle production in a Σ− beam

We present a calculation of the inclusive x _F distributions of charmed hadrons produced in a high-energy Σ^? beam. The calculation is based on the modified mechanism of charmed-quark fragmentation, as well as on the mechanism of c-quark recombination with the valence quarks from initial hadrons. We predict additional asymmetry in the production of charmed hadrons due to different distributions of the valence s and d quarks in a Σ^? beam.     

Photoproduction of charged hadrons at large transverse momenta

A quantitative test of QCD from high energy photoproduction of large transverse momentum charged hadrons, using incident γ energies between 50 and 150 GeV, is presented. The inclusive hadron P₁ and P_t distributions show a clear excess over the VDM contribution. This excess is found to be in good agreement with second-order QCD calculations. This agreement does not depend critically on the choice of the gluon fragmentation function, and is observed over the large kinematical domain covered by this experiment.     

Nucleon propagator at finite temperature

We study the nucleon propagator at finite temperature in the framework of finite energy QCD sum rules. We find that the nucleon mass is approximately constant over a wide range of temperature, increasing sharply near the critical temperature for deconfinementT _c . The coupling of the nucleon to quarks is a monotonically decreasing function ofT, vanishing atT=T _c .     

Quark-Model Nucleon–Nucleon Interaction Applied to Nucleon-Deuteron Scattering

We have examined the neutron-deuteron low-energy effective-range parameters, differential cross sections and spin polarization observables of the elastic nucleon-deuteron scattering up to the incident nucleon energy E _N  = 65 MeV, using the quark-model nucleon–nucleon interaction fss2. These observables are consistently described without introducing three nucleon forces except for the nucleon analyzing power A _y (θ) and the deuteron vector analyzing power iT ₁₁(θ) in the low-energy region E _N  ≤ 25 MeV. The long-standing A _y puzzle is slightly improved, but still remains. We have incorporated the screened Coulomb force to the proton-deuteron scattering, modifying the Vincent–Phatak approach for the sharp cutoff Coulomb force. The Coulomb effect on the elastic scattering observables is discussed.     

Hadronic production of doubly charmed baryons and intrinsic charm in the proton

The production of baryons involving two charmed quarks (Ξ _cc ^* or Ξ_cc) in hadron interactions at high energies and high transverse momenta is considered. It is assumed that a Ξ_cc baryon is formed in the nonperturbative fragmentation of a (cc) diquark produced in the hard partonic process of the scattering of charmed quarks from colliding hadrons: c+c → (cc)+g. It is shown that, upon the inclusion of this mechanism, the cross section for the production of doubly charmed baryons becomes approximately twice as large as that which is expected at the Tevatron and LHC colliders according to the predictions based on the model of gluon-gluon production of a (cc) diquark and obtained in the leading order of perturbative QCD.     

Role of four-quark condensates in QCD sum rules

The QCD sum rule approach to the in-medium behavior of hadrons is discussed for the ω meson, nucleon and D meson. Emphasis is placed on the impact of four-quark condensates and on order parameters of spontaneous symmetry breaking.