Photon and Light Meson Production in Hadronic Z^0 Decays

Abstract

The inclusive production rates and differential cross-sections of photons and mesons with a final state containing photons have been measured with the OPAL detector at LEP. The light mesons covered by the measurements are the \pi^0, \eta, \rho(770)+-, \omega(782), \eta'(958) and a_0(980)+-. The particle multiplicities per hadronic Z^0 decay, extrapolated to the full energy range, are: <n_\gamma> = 20.97 +/- 0.02 +/- 1.15, <n_\pi^0> = 9.55 +/- 0.06 +/- 0.75, <n_\eta> = 0.97 +/- 0.03 +/- 0.11, <n_\rho^+-> = 2.40 +/- 0.06 +/- 0.43, <n_\omega> = 1.04 +/- 0.04 +/- 0.14, <n_\eta> = 0.14 +/- 0.01 +/- 0.02, <n_a_0+-> = 0.27 +/- 0.04 +/- 0.10. where the first errors are statistical and the second systematic. In general, the results are in agreement with the predictions of the JETSET and HERWIG Monte Carlo models.