Production rates of strange vector mesons at the Z<sup>0</sup> resonance

Abstract

This dissertation presents a study of strange vector meson production, {open_quotes}leading particle{close_quotes} effect and a first direct measurement of the strangeness suppression parameter in hadronic decays of the neutral electroweak boson, Z{sup 0}. The measurements were performed in e{sup +}e{sup -} collisions at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) with the SLC Large Detector (SLD) experiment. A new generation particle ID system, the SLD Cerenkov Ring Imaging Detector (CRID) is used to discriminate kaons from pions, enabling the reconstruction of the vector mesons over a wide momentum range. The inclusive production rates of {phi} and K*{sup 0} and the differential rates versus momentum were measured and are compared with those of other experiments and theoretical predictions. The high longitudinal polarisation of the SLC electron beam is used in conjunction with the electroweak quark production asymmetries to separate quark jets from antiquark jets. K*{sup 0} production is studied separately in these samples, and the results show evidence for the {open_quotes}leading particle{close_quotes} effect. The difference between K*{sup 0} production rates at high momentum in quark and antiquark jets yields a first direct measurement of strangeness suppression in jet fragmentation.