First NNLO fragmentation functions of $K_S^0$ and $\Lambda/\bar{\Lambda}$ and their uncertainties in the presence of hadron mass corrections

TL;DR

This paper presents the first determination of NNLO fragmentation functions for $K_S^0$ and $\\Lambda/\ar{\Lambda}$ in QCD, including uncertainties and hadron mass corrections, improving the precision of predictions in high-energy physics.

Contribution

The paper introduces the first NNLO fragmentation functions for specific hadrons with uncertainty estimates, incorporating hadron mass effects in QCD analysis.

Findings

NNLO FFs show reasonable agreement with previous analyses.

Inclusion of hadron mass corrections affects the FFs reliability.

The results are provided in LHAPDF format for practical use.

Abstract

The current paper presents a determination of $K^0_S$ and $\Lambda/\bar{\Lambda}$ fragmentation functions (FFs) from QCD analysis of single-inclusive electron-positron annihilation process (SIA). Our FFs determinations are performed at next-to-leading order (NLO), and for the first time, at next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) accuracy in perturbative Quantum Chromodynamics (pQCD) which is designated as {\tt SAK20} FFs. Each of these FFs is accompanied by their uncertainties which are determined using the `Hessian' method. Considering the hadron mass corrections, we clearly investigate the reliability of our results upon the inclusion of higher-order QCD correction. We provide comparisons of {\tt SAK20} FFs set with the available analysis from another group, finding in general a reasonable agreement, and also considerable differences. In order to judge the fit quality, our theoretical predictions are compared with the analyzed SIA datasets. {\tt SAK20} FFs at NLO and NNLO accuracy along with their uncertainties are made available in the standard {\tt LHAPDF} format in order to use for predictions of present and future measurements in high-energy collisions such as LHC and RHIC.