Helicity probabilities for heavy quark fragmentation into excited mesons
- Davis Institute for High Energy Physics, Department of Physics, University of California, Davis, California 95616 (United States)
In the fragmentation of a heavy quark into a heavy meson whose light degrees of freedom have angular momentum 3/2, all the helicity probabilities are completely determined in the heavy quark limit up to a single probability {ital w}{sub 3/2}. We point out that this probability depends on the longitudinal momentum fraction {ital z} of the meson and on its transverse momentum {ital p}{sub {perpendicular}} relative to the jet axis. We calculate {ital w}{sub 3/2} as a function of scaling variables corresponding to {ital z} and {ital p}{sub {perpendicular}} by taking the heavy quark limit of the perturbative QCD fragmentation functions for a {ital b} quark to fragment into {ital P}-wave ({ital b{bar c}}) mesons. In this model, the light degrees of freedom prefer to have their angular momentum aligned transverse to, rather than along, the jet axis. The implications for the production of excited heavy mesons, such as {ital D}{sup **} and {ital B}{sup **}, are discussed.
- Research Organization:
- Univ. of California (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- FG03-91ER40674
- OSTI ID:
- 44750
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review, D, Vol. 51, Issue 9; Other Information: PBD: 1 May 1995
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Spin alignment in the production of charm and/or bottom vector mesons via heavy quark fragmentation
Perturbative QCD fragmentation functions for production of [ital P]-wave charm and bottom mesons