Polarized and unpolarized baryon production: SU(3) revisited - art. no. 114012.

The production of the octet baryons in ep collisions is analyzed based on a n SU(3) model for quark fragmentation into octet baryons. A good fit to cur rently available data on Lambda production in ep scattering is obtained. Th e model is extended to include polarization effects and all polarized fragm entation functions Delta D-q(h)(z, Q(2)) describing the polarized fragmenta tion into members of the baryon octet are expressed in terms of three SU(3) symmetric functions Delta alpha(z, Q(2)), Delta beta(z, Q(2)), and Delta g amma(z, Q(2)) and an SU(3) breaking parameter lambda. From suitable compari sons with Lambda polarization data in e(+)e(-) annihilations at the Z pole, Delta alpha(z, Q(2)) has been extracted. The fragmentation functions are t hen evolved using leading order polarized evolution equations and the polar ization of Lambda in e(+)e(-) and ep reactions has been predicted. [S0556-2 821(99)08509-4].