This final analysis of hadronic and leptonic cross-sections and of leptonic forward-backward asymmetries in e+e- collisions with the OPAL detector makes use of the full LEP1 data sample comprising 161 pb^-1 of integrated luminosity and 4.5 x 10^6 selected Z decays. An interpretation of the data in terms of contributions from pure Z exchange and from Z-gamma interference allows the parameters of the Z resonance to be determined in a model-independent way. Our results are in good agreement with lepton universality and consistent with the vector and axial-vector couplings predicted in the Standard Model. A fit to the complete dataset yields the fundamental Z resonance parameters: mZ = 91.1852 +- 0.0030 GeV, GZ = 2.4948 +- 0.0041 GeV, s0h = 41.501 +- 0.055 nb, Rl = 20.823 +- 0.044, and Afb0l = 0.0145 +- 0.0017. Transforming these parameters gives a measurement of the ratio between the decay width into invisible particles and the width to a single species of charged lepton, Ginv/Gl = 5.942 +- 0.027. Attributing the entire invisible width to neutrino decays and assuming the Standard Model couplings for neutrinos, this translates into a measurement of the effective number of light neutrino species, N_nu = 2.984 +- 0.013. Interpreting the data within the context of the Standard Model allows the mass of the top quark, mt = 162 +29-16 GeV, to be determined through its influence on radiative corrections. Alternatively, utilising the direct external measurement of mt as an additional constraint leads to a measurement of the strong coupling constant and the mass of the Higgs boson: alfa_s(mZ) = 0.127 +- 0.005 and mH = 390 +750-280 GeV.

We have measured the differential production cross sections as a function of scaled momentum x_p=2p/E_cm of the identified hadron species pi+, K+, K0, K*0, phi, p, Lambda0, and of the corresponding antihadron species in inclusive hadronic Z0 decays, as well as separately for Z0 decays into light (u, d, s), c and b flavors. Clear flavor dependences are observed, consistent with expectations based upon previously measured production and decay properties of heavy hadrons. These results were used to test the QCD predictions of Gribov and Lipatov, the predictions of QCD in the Modified Leading Logarithm Approximation with the ansatz of Local Parton-Hadron Duality, and the predictions of three fragmentation models. Ratios of production of different hadron species were also measured as a function of x_p and were used to study the suppression of strange meson, strange and non-strange baryon, and vector meson production in the jet fragmentation process. The light-flavor results provide improved tests of the above predictions, as they remove the contribution of heavy hadron production and decay from that of the rest of the fragmentation process. In addition we have compared hadron and antihadron production as a function of x_p in light quark (as opposed to antiquark) jets. Differences are observed at high x_p, providing direct evidence that higher-momentum hadrons are more likely to contain a primary quark or antiquark. The differences for pseudoscalar and vector kaons provide new measurements of strangeness suppression for high-x_p fragmentation products.

A measurement of the ratio R_chic = (chic -> Jpsi + gam)/ Jpsi in pC, pTi and pW interactions at 920 GeV/c (sqrt{s}=41.6 GeV) in the Feynman-x range -0.35 < x_F(Jpsi) < 0.15 is presented. Both mu+mu- and e+e- Jpsi decay channels are observed with an overall statistics of about 15000 chic events, which is by far the largest available sample in pA collisions. The result is R_chic = 0.188+-0.013(st)(+0.024)(-0.022)(sys) averaged over the different materials, when no Jpsi and chic polarisations are considered. The chic_1 to chic_2 production ratio R_12 = R_chic1/R_chic2 is measured to be 1.02+-0.40, leading to a cross section ratio sigma(chic_1)/sigma(chic_2)=0.57+-0.23. The dependence of R_chic on the Feynman-x of the Jpsi, x_F(Jpsi), and its transverse momentum, p_T(Jpsi), is studied, as well as its dependence on the atomic number, A, of the target. For the first time, an extensive study of possible biases on R_chic and R_12 due to the dependence of acceptance on the polarization states of Jpsi and chic is performed. By varying the polarisation parameter, lambda(obs), of all produced Jpsi's by two sigma around the value measured by HERA-B, and considering the maximum variation due to the possible chic_1 and chic_2 polarisations, it is shown that R_chic could change by a factor between 1.02 and 1.21 and R_12 by a factor between 0.89 and 1.16.

The exclusive photoproduction of J/psi mesons, gamma p->J/psi p, has been studied in ep collisions with the ZEUS detector at HERA, in the kinematic range 20<W<290 GeV, where W is the photon-proton centre-of-mass energy. The J/psi mesons were reconstructed in the muon and the electron decay channels using integrated luminosities of 38 pb^-1 and 55 pb^-1, respectively. The helicity structure of J/psi production shows that the hypothesis of s-channel helicity conservation is satisfied at the two standard-deviation level. The total cross section and the differential cross-section dsigma/dt, where t is the squared four-momentum transfer at the proton vertex, are presented as a function of W, for |t|<1.8 GeV^2. The t distribution exhibits an exponential shape with a slope parameter increasing logarithmically with W with a value b=4.15 \pm 0.05 (stat.)^{+0.30}_{-0.18} (syst.) GeV^-2 at W=90 GeV. The effective parameters of the Pomeron trajectory are alphapom(0) = 1.200 \pm 0.009(stat.)^{+0.004}_{-0.010}(syst.) and alphappom= 0.115 \pm 0.018(stat.)^{+0.008}_{-0.015}(syst.) GeV^-2.

A partial wave analysis of the centrally produced eta pi0 and eta pi- channels has been performed in pp collisions using an incident beam momentum of 450 GeV/c. Clear a0(980) and a2(1320) signals have been observed in S and D+ waves respectively. The dPT, phi and |t| distributions of these resonances are presented.

In the first holographic bubble chamber experiment — the HOBC experiment — we have accumulated a total of 40000 holograms with particle interactions. We have determined the total charm pair cross section inpN collisions to be 23.3−7.7+10 μb and 3.6−1.7+2.3 μb for 360 and 200 GeV/c incident protons respectively. We have assumed a linear dependence of the cross section on the atomic number of the target. This experiment has demonstrated the feasibility of holographic recording in small bubble chambers. Assuming that the charm cross section can be described by the standard QCD factorized expression with gluon fusion and quark-antiquark annihilation, we have used our measured charm cross sections with other measurements to determine the effective charmed quark mass to be 1.8−0.35+0.25 GeV/c2. TheK factor, which describes the importance of the higher order corrections, is calculated to be 9.8−6.9+12.5 (See noted added in proof.)

A measurement is presented of elastic deeply virtual Compton scattering \gamma* p \to \gamma p made using e^+ p collision data corresponding to a luminosity of 46.5 pb^{-1}, taken with the H1 detector at HERA. The cross section is measured as a function of the photon virtuality, Q^2, the invariant mass of the \gamma* p system, W, and for the first time, differentially in the squared momentum transfer at the proton vertex, t, in the kinematic range 2 < Q^2 < 80 GeV^2, 30 < W < 140 GeV and |t| < 1 GeV^2. QCD based calculations at next-to-leading order using generalized parton distributions can describe the data, as can colour dipole model predictions.

The total hadronic cross-section sigma_gg(W) for the interaction of real photons, gg->hadrons, is measured for gg centre-of-mass energies 10<W<110 GeV. The cross-section is extracted from a measurement of the process e+e- -> e+e-g*g* -> e+e- hardrons, using a luminosity function for the photon flux together with form factors for extrapolating to real photons (Q^2=0 GeV^2). The data were taken with the OPAL detector at LEP at e+e- centre-of-mass energies 161, 172 and 183 GeV. The cross-section sigma_gg(W) is compared with Regge factorisation and with the energy dependence observed in gp and pp interactions. The data are also compared to models which predict a faster rise of sigma_gg(W) compared to gp and pp interactions due to additional hard gg interactions not present in hadronic collisions.

Distributions are presented of event shape variables, jet roduction rates and charged particle momenta obtained from 53 000 hadronicZ decays. They are compared to the predictions of the QCD+hadronization models JETSET, ARIADNE and HERWIG, and are used to optimize several model parameters. The JETSET and ARIADNE coherent parton shower (PS) models with running αs and string fragmentation yield the best description of the data. The HERWIG parton shower model with cluster fragmentation fits the data less well. The data are in better agreement with JETSET PS than with JETSETO(αS2) matrix elements (ME) even when the renormalization scale is optimized.

Total cross sections of π ± , K ± , p and p on protons and deuterons have been measured at 6 momenta between 200 and 370 GeV/ c .