We have studied hadronic events from e+e- annihilation data at centre-of-mass energies from 91 to 209 GeV. We present distributions of event shape observables and their moments at each energy and compare with QCD Monte Carlo models. From the event shape distributions we extract the strong coupling alpha_s and test its evolution with energy scale. The results are consistent with the running of alpha_s expected from QCD. Combining all data, the value of alpha_s(M_Z) is determined to be alpha_s(M_Z) = 0.1191 +- 0.0005 (stat.) +- 0.0010 (expt.) +- 0.0011 (hadr.) +- 0.0044 (theo.). The energy evolution of the moments is also used to determine a value of alpha_s with slightly larger errors: alpha_s(M_Z) = 0.1223 +- 0.0005 (stat.) +- 0.0014 (expt.) +- 0.0016 (hadr.) +0.0054 -0.0036 (theo.).
We have studied hadronic events produced at LEP at a centre-of-mass energy of 161 GeV. We present distributions of event shape variables, jet rates, charged particle momentum spectra and multiplicities. We determine the strong coupling strength to be αs(161 GeV) = 0.101±0.005(stat.)±0.007(syst.), the mean charged particle multiplicity to be 〈nch〉(161 GeV) = 24.46 ± 0.45(stat.) ± 0.44(syst.) and the position of the peak in the ξp = ln(1/xp) distribution to be ξ0(161 GeV) = 4.00 ±0.03(stat.)±0.04(syst.). These results are compared to data taken at lower centre-of-mass energies and to analytic QCD or Monte Carlo predictions. Our measured value of αs(161 GeV) is consistent with other measurements of αs. Within the current statistical and systematic uncertainties, the PYTHIA, HERWIG and ARIADNE QCD Monte Carlo models and analytic calculations are in overall agreement with our measurements. The COJETS QCD Monte Carlo is in general agreement with the data for momentum weighted distributions like Thrust, but predicts a significantly larger charged particle multiplicity than is observed experimentally.
We employ data taken by the JADE and OPAL experiments for an integrated QCD study in hadronic e+e- annihilations at c.m.s. energies ranging from 35 GeV through 189 GeV. The study is based on jet-multiplicity related observables. The observables are obtained to high jet resolution scales with the JADE, Durham, Cambridge and cone jet finders, and compared with the predictions of various QCD and Monte Carlo models. The strong coupling strength, alpha_s, is determined at each energy by fits of O(alpha_s^2) calculations, as well as matched O(alpha_s^2) and NLLA predictions, to the data. Matching schemes are compared, and the dependence of the results on the choice of the renormalization scale is investigated. The combination of the results using matched predictions gives alpha_s(MZ)=0.1187+{0.0034}-{0.0019}. The strong coupling is also obtained, at lower precision, from O(alpha_s^2) fits of the c.m.s. energy evolution of some of the observables. A qualitative comparison is made between the data and a recent MLLA prediction for mean jet multiplicities.
We have studied hadronic events from e+e- annihilation data at centre-of-mass energies of sqrt{s}=172, 183 and 189 GeV. The total integrated luminosity of the three samples, measured with the OPAL detector, corresponds to 250 pb^-1. We present distributions of event shape variables, charged particle multiplicity and momentum, measured separately in the three data samples. From these we extract measurements of the strong coupling alpha_s, the mean charged particle multiplicity <nch> and the peak position xi_0 in the xi_p=ln(1/x_p) distribution. In general the data are described well by analytic QCD calculations and Monte Carlo models. Our measured values of alpha_s, <nch> and xi_0 are consistent with previous determinations at sqrt{s}=MZ.
Charged particle momentum distributions are studied in the reaction e+e- -> hadrons, using data collected with the OPAL detector at centre-of-mass energies from 192 GeV to 209 GeV. The data correspond to an average centre-of- mass energy of 201.7 GeV and a total integrated luminosity of 433 pb-1. The measured distributions and derived quantities, in combination with corresponding results obtained at lower centre-of-mass energies, are compared to QCD predictions in various theoretical approaches to study the energy dependence of the strong interaction and to test QCD as the theory describing it. In general, a good agreement is found between the measurements and the corresponding QCD predictions.
We present data on two-particle pseudorapidity and multiplicity correlations of charged particles for non single-diffractive\(p\bar p - collisions\) at c.m. energies of 200, 546 and 900 GeV. Pseudorapidity correlations interpreted in terms of a cluster model, which has been motivated by this and other experiments, require on average about two charged particles per cluster. The decay width of the clusters in pseudorapidity is approximately independent of multiplicity and of c.m. energy. The investigations of correlations in terms of pseudorapidity gaps confirm the picture of cluster production. The strength of forward-backward multiplicity correlations increases linearly with ins and depends strongly on position and size of the pseudorapidity gap separating the forward and backward interval. All our correlation studies can be understood in terms of a cluster model in which clusters contain on average about two charged particles, i.e. are of similar magnitude to earlier estimates from the ISR.
The hadronic final states observed with the ALEPH detector at LEP in ${\rm e}^ + {\rm e}^-$ annihilation
The cross section of the diffractive process e^+p -> e^+Xp is measured at a centre-of-mass energy of 318 GeV, where the system X contains at least two jets and the leading final state proton p is detected in the H1 Very Forward Proton Spectrometer. The measurement is performed in photoproduction with photon virtualities Q^2 <2 GeV^2 and in deep-inelastic scattering with 4 GeV^2<Q^2<80 GeV^2. The results are compared to next-to-leading order QCD calculations based on diffractive parton distribution functions as extracted from measurements of inclusive cross sections in diffractive deep-inelastic scattering.
We study the process e+e- -> pi+pi-pi+pi-gamma, with a photon emitted from the initial-state electron or positron, using 454.3 fb^-1 of data collected with the BABAR detector at SLAC, corresponding to approximately 260,000 signal events. We use these data to extract the non-radiative sigma(e+e- ->pi+pi-pi+pi-) cross section in the energy range from 0.6 to 4.5 Gev. The total uncertainty of the cross section measurement in the peak region is less than 3%, higher in precision than the corresponding results obtained from energy scan data.
In this Report, QCD results obtained from a study of hadronic event structure in high energy e^+e^- interactions with the L3 detector are presented. The operation of the LEP collider at many different collision energies from 91 GeV to 209 GeV offers a unique opportunity to test QCD by measuring the energy dependence of different observables. The main results concern the measurement of the strong coupling constant, \alpha_s, from hadronic event shapes and the study of effects of soft gluon coherence through charged particle multiplicity and momentum distributions.
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