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Single-Inclusive Hadron Production in Electron-Positron Annihilation at Next-to-Next-to-Next-to-Leading Order in QCD

Chuan-Qi He1,2,3,*, Hongxi Xing1,2,4,†, Tong-Zhi Yang1,2,5,‡, and Hua Xing Zhu6,7,§

  • 1State Key Laboratory of Nuclear Physics and Technology, Institute of Quantum Matter, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China
  • 2Guangdong Basic Research Center of Excellence for Structure and Fundamental Interactions of Matter, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Nuclear Science, Guangzhou 510006, China
  • 3Key Laboratory of Atomic and Subatomic Structure and Quantum Control (MOE), Guangdong-Hong Kong Joint Laboratory of Quantum Matter, Guangzhou 510006, China
  • 4Southern Center for Nuclear-Science Theory (SCNT), Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Huizhou 516000, China
  • 5Physik-Institut, Universität Zürich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zürich, Switzerland
  • 6School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
  • 7Center for High Energy Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China

  • *Contact author: legend_he@m.scnu.edu.cn
  • †Contact author: hxing@m.scnu.edu.cn
  • ‡Contact author: tongzhi.yang@m.scnu.edu.cn
  • §Contact author: zhuhx@pku.edu.cn
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 101901 – Published 2 September, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/vtz2-6bnm

Abstract

Single-inclusive hadron production in electron-positron annihilation (SIA) represents the cleanest process for investigating the dynamics of parton hadronization, as encapsulated in parton fragmentation functions. In this Letter, we present, for the first time, the analytical computation of quantum chromodynamics corrections to the coefficient functions for SIA at next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order (N3LO) accuracy, achieving the highest precision to date for hadron production processes. Utilizing the BABAR measurement as a benchmark, we assess the phenomenological implications of this high-precision calculation. Our findings demonstrate a substantial reduction in scale uncertainties at N3LO and offer an improved description of the experimental data compared to lower-order calculations. This advancement underscores the importance of higher-order corrections in achieving a more accurate understanding of hadronization processes.

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Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 101901– Published 2 September, 2025
  • Received 13 April 2025
  • Revised 2 July 2025
  • Accepted 8 August 2025
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