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Energy correlators in semi-inclusive electron-positron annihilation

Yu Jiao Zhu*

  • *Contact author: yzhu@mpp.mpg.de
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Phys. Rev. D 113, 014025 – Published 23 January, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/pnfq-fx3f

Abstract

We investigate energy correlators in semi-inclusive electron-positron annihilation as precision probes of parton hadronization dynamics. Using soft-collinear effective theory, we analyze the correlation patterns between the examined hadron and the rest of QCD radiations in both large-angle and small-angle limits, which establishes a direct correspondence with transverse-momentum-dependent fragmentation functions and fragmentation energy correlators. The two complementary regimes encode the transition from perturbative parton branching to nonperturbative confinement, enabling a unified description of hadron formation across all kinematic regimes. Using renormalization group evolution, we obtain joint N3LL/NNLL quantitative predictions for energy correlations both in the sudakov and jet fragmentation region. Our results demonstrate that semi-inclusive energy correlators provide direct, theoretically controlled access to QCD dynamics underlying hadronization, opening new avenues for precision studies at future lepton colliders as well as through reanalyses of archival LEP data.

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Phys. Rev. D 113, 014025– Published 23 January, 2026
  • Received 12 November 2025
  • Accepted 2 January 2026
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