Measurement of f(c -> D*(+),X), f(b -> D*(+),X) and Gamma(c(c)over-bar)/Gamma(had) using D*(+/-) mesons

The production rates of D*(+/-) mesons in charm and bottom events at centre-of-mass energies of about 91 GeV and the partial width of primary c (c) over bar pairs in hadronic Z(0) decays have been measured at LEP using almost 4.4 million hadronic Z(0) decays collected with the OPAL detector between 1990 and 1995, Using a combination of several charm quark tagging methods based on fully and partially reconstructed D*(+/-) mesons, and a bottom tag based on identified muons and electrons, the hadronisation fractions of charm and bottom quarks into D*(+/-) mesons have been found to bef(b --> D*X+) = 0.173 +/- 0.016 +/- 0.012 and f(c --> D*X+) = 0.222 +/- 0.014 +/- 0.014.The fraction of c (c) over bar events in hadronic Z(0) decays, Gamma(c (c) over bar)/Gamma(had) = Gamma(Z(0) --> c (c) over bar)/Gamma(Z(0) --> hadrons), is determined to beGamma(c (c) over bar)/Gamma(had) = 0.180 +/- 0.011 +/- 0.012 +/- 0.006.In all cases the first error is statistical, and the second one systematic. The last error quoted for Gamma(c (c) over bar)/Gamma(had) is due to external branching ratios.