A Search for Jet Handedness in Hadronic $Z^0$ Decays

TL;DR

This study searched for polarization signatures in hadronic jets from Z^0 decays using jet handedness, finding no evidence and setting upper limits on the method's analyzing power.

Contribution

It applies the jet handedness method to Z^0 decay data to test for polarization effects, providing the first upper limits on this approach.

Findings

No evidence for jet handedness was observed.

Upper limits of 0.063 and 0.099 were set on analyzing power.

The method's effectiveness was constrained by the data.

Abstract

We have searched for signatures of polarization in hadronic jets from $Z^0 \to q \bar{q}$ decays using the ``jet handedness'' method. The polar angle asymmetry induced by the high SLC electron-beam polarization was used to separate quark jets from antiquark jets, expected to be left- and right-polarized, respectively. We find no evidence for jet handedness in our global sample or in a sample of light quark jets and we set upper limits at the 95% C.L. of 0.063 and 0.099 respectively on the magnitude of the analyzing power of the method proposed by Efremov {\it et al.}