Combined analysis of charm-quark fragmentation-fraction measurements

TL;DR

This paper compares charm-quark fragmentation measurements across various collision types, showing consistent results and providing improved average fragmentation fractions with reduced uncertainties.

Contribution

It offers a comprehensive combined analysis of charm-quark fragmentation fractions from multiple experiments, confirming process independence and refining average values.

Findings

Measurements agree within uncertainties across processes

Fragmentation is independent of production mechanism

Averages have significantly reduced uncertainties

Abstract

A summary of measurements of the fragmentation of charm quarks into a specific hadron is given. Measurements performed in photoproduction and deep inelastic scattering in $e^{\pm}p$, $pp$ and $e^+e^-$ collisions are compared, using up-to-date branching ratios. Within uncertainties, all measurements agree, supporting the hypothesis that fragmentation is independent of the specific production process. Averages of the fragmentation fractions over all measurements are presented. The average has significantly reduced uncertainties compared to individual measurements.