A phenomenological study of heavy-quark fragmentation functions in e+e- annihilation

We consider the computation of D and B fragmentation functions in e(+)e(-) annihilation. We compare the results of fitting present data using the next-to-leading-logarithmic resummed approach, versus the O(alpha(s)(2)) fixed-order calculation, including also mass-suppressed effects. We also propose a method for merging the fixed-order calculation with the resummed approach. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.