A fixed-order calculation of the heavy-quark fragmentation function in e+e− collisions

Abstract

We use a recently completed O(α s 2) fixed-order calculation of the heavy-flavour production cross section in e + e − collisions to compute the heavy-quark fragmentation function. We fit the result of our calculation, convoluted with a Peterson fragmentation function, to available data for charm production, and thus obtain a value for the parameter ϵ in the Peterson function. We discuss the relevance of mass effects and of subleading terms in our calculation.