Helicity probabilities for heavy quark fragmentation into excited mesons

Journal Article · Mon May 01 04:00:00 EDT 1995 · Physical Review, D

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.51.4830· OSTI ID:44750

Yuan, T C ^[1]

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1. 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: University of California
• DOE Contract Number: FG03-91ER40674
• OSTI ID: 44750
• Journal Information: Physical Review, D, Journal Name: Physical Review, D Journal Issue: 9 Vol. 51; ISSN PRVDAQ; ISSN 0556-2821
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

66 PHYSICS
ANGULAR MOMENTUM
DEGREES OF FREEDOM
EXCITED STATES
FRAGMENTATION
HELICITY
JETS
MESONS
P WAVES
PERTURBATION THEORY
PROBABILITY
QUANTUM CHROMODYNAMICS
QUARKS
SCALING
TRANSVERSE MOMENTUM