The hadron pair forward-backward asymmetry in the electron positron annihilation process

TL;DR

This paper extends the concept of forward-backward asymmetry from partonic to hadronic levels in electron-positron annihilation, using di-hadron fragmentation functions and leading order calculations to estimate asymmetries and their potential to constrain fragmentation models.

Contribution

It introduces a method to calculate hadron pair forward-backward asymmetry at the hadronic level, incorporating twist-4 effects and providing a framework for experimental constraints on fragmentation functions.

Findings

Calculated differential cross sections and asymmetries in terms of di-hadron fragmentation functions.

Numerical estimates of the asymmetry using existing parameterizations.

Illustrated the impact of twist-4 fragmentation functions on asymmetry contributions.

Abstract

The forward-backward asymmetry is an important measurable quantity which can enable independent determination of the neutral-current couplings of fermions. In this paper, we extend the definition of the asymmetry from the partonic level to the hadronic level by calculating this asymmetry of the hadron pair in the semi-inclusive electron position annihilation process. Semi-inclusive implies that a back-to-back jet is also measured in addition to the hadron pair. Due to the limitation of the factorization theorem, we calculate this process up to leading order twist-4 level by applying the collinear expansion formalism. After obtaining the differential cross section, we calculate the forward-backward asymmetries and show them in terms of the corresponding di-hadron fragmentation functions. Di-hadron fragmentation functions are introduced to describe the hadron pair productions in the fragmentation process. With available parameterization of the functions, we present a numerical estimation of the forward-backward asymmetry. On the flip side, measurements of the forward-backward asymmetry would give strict restrictions of parameterizations of the di-hadron fragmentation functions. We also present a numerical estimation of the twist-4 di-hadron fragmentation functions in order to illustrate their contributions.