A determination of strange quark suppression in hadronic vacuum

Abstract

We have analysed experimental data on (i)e⁺ e_– annihilation to hadrons, (ii) leptoproduction, (iii) hadron-hadron interactions, and (iv) heavy particle decays to determine SU(3) symmetry violation, i.e. the suppression factor (λ) for strange quark-antiquark pairs relative to uu̅ and dd̅ pairs in the hadronic vacuum. Inclusive particle ratios, i.e. K/π ratios at large x and ratios between the inclusive production rates of relevant resonances, yield similar values for λ, the weighted mean being <λ>=0.29±0.02. No significant energy dependence of λ is observed. We also find that the average net electric charge measurements for lepton produced quark jets are consistent with the above value of λ.