A method for measuring strangeness suppression in light quark fragmentation at LEP

A new method is described for measuring strangeness suppression in light quark fragmentation using the reaction e+e− → Z → qq. The technique is based on qq electroweak asymmetries and uses only strange mesons of one type. Since it does not rely on a comparison of the production of states with different masses, the method could provide a test of whether the strangeness suppression in light quark fragmentation operates at the quark or at the hadron level. The method is essentially independent of Monte Carlo models and is relatively free of experimental systematic errors.