Inclusive Production of omega and eta Mesons in Hadronic Z Decays

The inclusive production of the omega(782) vector meson in hadronic Z decays is measured and compared to model predictions. The analysis is based on 4 million hadronic Z decays recorded by the ALEPH detector between 1991 and 1995. Decays of the omega -> pi^+ pi^- pi^0 are reconstructed for x_p > 0.05, where x_p = p_meson/p_beam. The production rate for x_p > 0.05 is found to be 0.585 +- 0.019_stat +- 0.033_sys per event. Inclusive eta meson production is also measured in the same decay channel for x_p > 0.10; the production rate for x_p > 0.10 is found to be 0.355 +- 0.011_stat +- 0.024_sys per event. The branching ratio for omega -> mu^+mu^- is investigated. A total of 18.1 +- 5.9 events are observed, from which the muonic branching ratio is measured to be BR$(omega -> \mu^+ \mu^-) = (9.0 +- 2.9_stat +- 1.1_sys * 10^-5.