Quark spin effects in e⁺e⁻ annihilation: a Monte Carlo event generator study

Quark spin effects in e⁺e⁻ annihilation to pseudoscalar and vector mesons are implemented for the first time in the PYTHIA Monte Carlo event generator. The spin-dependent fragmentation of the string stretched between the produced quark-antiquark pair with correlated spin states is described by the string+³P₀ model implemented in the string fragmentation routine of PYTHIA by using the StringSpinner package. The simulated events are used to study the model predictions for the Collins asymmetries of mesons produced back-to-back in the e⁺e⁻ center of mass system by using both the thrust axis method and the hadronic plane method. The obtained asymmetries are compared to the available data from the BELLE and BABAR experiments and the underlying Collins analysing power from the string+³P₀ model is compared with phenomenological extractions.