Studies of charged particle multiplicity inb quark events

Using the distance from the average primary vertex to reconstructed secondary vertices in jets, samples of events withb purity varying from about 13% to 89% have been selected. The charged particle multiplicity in the hemispheres opposite those containing these jets has been studied as a function of theb purity of the events. Extrapolating to 0% and 100%b purity, values of the hemisphere charged particle multiplicity inZ0→\(b\bar b\) events and in non-\(b\bar b\) events have been measured to be $$\begin{gathered} \bar n_b = 11.71 \pm 0.03 \pm 0.18 \pm 0.21, \hfill \\ \bar n_{udsc} = 10.32 \pm 0.01 \pm 0.07 \pm 0.19. \hfill \\ \end{gathered}$$ The first error is statistical, the second systematic and the third is a common systematic error.