First Monte Carlo analysis of fragmentation functions from single-inclusive $e^+ e^-$ annihilation

TL;DR

This paper introduces the first iterative Monte Carlo analysis of fragmentation functions from electron-positron annihilation data, providing a more unbiased and statistically rigorous determination of these functions and their uncertainties.

Contribution

It presents a novel IMC methodology for analyzing fragmentation functions, improving upon traditional methods by reducing bias and accurately estimating uncertainties.

Findings

Identifies specific features of fragmentation functions for light and strange quarks.

Demonstrates the effectiveness of IMC in analyzing e+e- annihilation data.

Provides improved fragmentation function parametrizations with uncertainty estimates.

Abstract

We perform the first iterative Monte Carlo (IMC) analysis of fragmentation functions constrained by all available data from single-inclusive $e^+ e^-$ annihilation into pions and kaons. The IMC method eliminates potential bias in traditional analyses based on single fits introduced by fixing parameters not well contrained by the data and provides a statistically rigorous determination of uncertainties. Our analysis reveals specific features of fragmentation functions using the new IMC methodology and those obtained from previous analyses, especially for light quarks and for strange quark fragmentation to kaons.