Two- and three-point energy correlations in Hadronice + e ? annihilation

Abstract

Correlations between the energies incident on two or three detectors arounde+e− annihilation events are considered as a probe of the QCD structure of the events. Practical methods for deducing two-detector energy correlations (which give the mean product of energies incident on two detectors as a function of their angular separation) from measured events are devised. Analytical formulae for energy correlations from QCD perturbation theory are given, but it is found that large corrections from hadron formation obscure these symptotic predictions at available energies. Correlations between the final state and the incominge± beam direction are discussed, and observables are presented which measure the angular distributions of planes of final particles with respect to the beam axis (but do not require explicit determination of the planes). Finally, three-detector energy correlatons and their moments are treated, and methods for investigating planar structures ine+e− annihilation events are devised.