Fragmentation Functions at Belle

Understand

Fragmentation functions (FFs) describe the formation of final state particles from a partonic initial state.

• Precise knowledge of these functions is a key ingredient in accessing quantities such as the nucleon spin structure in semi-inclusive deep-inelastic scattering and proton proton collisions.
• However, fragmentation functions can currently not be determined from first principles Quantum Chromodynamics and have to be extracted from experimental data.
• The Belle experiment at KEK, Japan, provides a large data sample for high precision measurements on e^{+}e^{-} annihilations allowing for first-time or more precise extractions of fragmentation functions.