Production rates of b(b)over-bar quark pairs from gluons and b(b)over-barb(b)over-bar events in hadronic Z0 decays

Abstract

Abstract. The rates are measured per hadronic $$\mathrm{Z}^0$$ decay for gluon splitting to $$\mathrm{b\overline{b}}$$ quark pairs, $$g_{\mathrm{b\overline{b}}}$$, and of events containing two $$\mathrm{b\overline{b}}$$ quark pairs, $$g_{\mathrm{4b}}$$, using a sample of four-jet events selected from data collected with the OPAL detector. Events with an enhanced signal of gluon splitting to $$\mathrm{b\overline{b}}$$ quarks are selected if two of the jets are close in phase-space and contain detached secondary vertices. For the event sample containing two $$\mathrm{b\overline{b}}$$..