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  • Open Access

Dihadron Fragmentation Framework for Near-Side Energy-Energy Correlators

Zhong-Bo Kang1,2,3,*, Andreas Metz4,†, Daniel Pitonyak5,‡, and Congyue Zhang1,2,§

  • *Contact author: zkang@physics.ucla.edu
  • †Contact author: metza@temple.edu
  • ‡Contact author: pitonyak@lvc.edu
  • §Contact author: maxzhang2002@g.ucla.edu
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 081905 – Published 23 February, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/jnl4-x77t

Abstract

We establish an approach to analyze the free hadron and transition (nonperturbative) regions of near-side energy-energy correlators (EECs) based on dihadron fragmentation functions (DiFFs). We introduce a (nonperturbative) function we call the “EEC DiFF” and explicitly show that expanding it for large relative transverse momentum between the two hadrons gives the O(αs) expression for the “EEC jet” function used in the quark-gluon (perturbative) region. This connection indicates that a formal theoretical matching will be able to bridge the free-hadron region, transition, and quark-gluon regions and allow all of them to be analyzed simultaneously. We further derive a result valid for near-side EECs in the free hadron and transition regions of e+e− annihilation in terms of the EEC DiFF. Using a simple model for the function, we perform the first fit within the dihadron framework to experimental data in this regime. We find reasonable agreement with the measurements and reproduce the salient features of near-side EECs in the free hadron and transition regions.

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See Also

Dihadron Fragmentation and the Confinement Transition in Energy Correlators

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Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 081902 (2026)

Quantum Scaling in Energy Correlators beyond the Confinement Transition

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Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 081903 (2026)

Factorization and Resummation for the Near-Side Energy-Energy Correlators

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Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 081904 (2026)

Article Text

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Outline

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Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 081905– Published 23 February, 2026
  • Received 31 July 2025
  • Revised 5 November 2025
  • Accepted 2 January 2026
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