title: Strong coupling constant from scaling violations in fragmentation functions.
abstract: We present a new determination of the strong coupling constant alpha(s) through the scaling violations in the fragmentation functions for charged pions, charged kaons, and protons. In our fit we include the latest e+e- annihilation data from CERN LEP1 and SLAC SLC on the Z-boson resonance and older, yet very precise, data from SLAC PEP at center-of-mass energy sqaure root of s = 29 GeV. At next-to-leading order, we find alpha(s)(5)(M(Z)) = 0.1170+/-0.0073. A new world average of alpha(s) is given.
authors.affiliation: II. Institut fur Theoretische Physik, Universitat Hamburg, Luruper Chaussee 149, 22761 Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: B A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Kniehl
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kramer
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Pötter