Thermal description of hadron production in e+e- collisions revisited

Abstract

We present a comprehensive analysis of hadron production in e+e- collisions at different center-of-mass energies in the framework of the statistical model of the hadron resonance gas. The model is formulated in the canonical ensemble with exact conservation of all relevant quantum numbers. The parameters of the underlying model were determined using a fit to the average multiplicities of the latest measurements at $\sqrt{s}$ = 10, 29-35, 91 and 130-200 GeV. The results demonstrate that, within the accuracy of the experiments, none of the data sets is satisfactorily described with this approach, calling into question the notion that particle production in e+e- collisions is thermal in origin.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures; v2: final version accepted for publication in Phys. Lett.