Production of charged pions, kaons, and protons in e[superscript +]e[superscript -] annihilations into hadrons at √s=10.54 GeV

Abstract

Inclusive production cross sections of π[superscript ±], K[superscript ±] and p/p̅ per hadronic e[superscript +]e[superscript -] annihilation event are measured at a center-of-mass energy of 10.54 GeV, using a relatively small sample of very high quality data from the BABAR experiment at the PEP-II B-factory at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. The drift chamber and Cherenkov detector provide clean samples of identified π[superscript ±], K[superscript ±], and p/p̅ over a wide range of momenta. Since the center-of-mass energy is below the threshold to produce a BB̅ pair, with B a bottom-quark meson, these data represent a pure e[superscript +]e[superscript -]→qq̅ sample with four quark flavors, and are used to test QCD predictions and hadronization models. Combined with measurements at other energies, in particular at the Z[superscript 0] resonance, they also provide precise constraints on the scaling properties of the hadronization process over a wide energy range.