A detailed analysis of the inclusive production of the vector mesonsφ,K*+,0(892)\(\bar K*^0 (892),\rho ^{ + ,0} ,\omega \) and the tensor mesonsK2*0)(1430) andf2(1270) inK+p interactions at 250 GeV/c is presented The data are compared with results at lower energies and with various quark-parton models. The production ofρ0,K*0(892) and\(\bar K*^0 (892)\) increases at the same rate as a function ofs, is concentrated in the central region and is not reproduced by the models. Production of the tensor mesonsf2(1270) andK2*0(1340) is suppressed relative toρ0 andK*0(892) by a factor of about 3.

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.

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 inclusive production of ρ0 mesons was measured in γp andh±p collisions at beam energies of 65 GeV≦Eγ≦175 GeV andEh=80, 140 GeV, respectively, whereh is π orK. Cross sections were determined for all beams and energies as functions ofxF (−0.1≦xF≦1.0),pT (0≦pT≦3.5 GeV/c) and the polar decay angle of the ρ0 by fitting the ρ0 signal in π+π- mass distributions. The ρ0 line shape is found to be distorted from a pure Breit-Wigner distribution throughout most of thexF−pT plane for both photon and hadron beams and a simple explanation is suggested. Throughout the paper emphasis is put on the comparison of photon and hadron beam data. The comparison of cross sections of γp andhp data provides a measure of the Vector Meson Dominance factor throughout thexF−pT range of the ρ0. The ρ0 production at lowpT can be described for both photon and hadron beams by a triple regge model at largexF. Similarly central production is well described by the quark-antiquark fusion model. At largepT there is an excess of ρ0 photoproduction which is consistent with the expected onset of pointlike photon interactions.

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.

Total and differential K0 corss sections are presented from e+e− collisions at s=29 GeV in the High Resolution Spectrometer detector. K0 and charged-particle distributions are compared in a study of the hadronization of quarks of known flavor. Ecents of the reaction e+e−→cc¯ are tagged by identifying D*'s while uu¯, dd¯, or ss¯ events are tagged through the identification of a charged particle with fractional momentum near 1. Parton-shower models with cluster and string fragmentation are compared with these data. Also, certain particle scaling tests are performed using the quark-flavor tags. In addition, K0 production in two- and three-jet events is compared to these models.

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.

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.

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.)

During the LEP running periods in 1990 and 1991 DELPHI has accumulated approximately 450 000 Z 0 decays into hadrons and charged leptons. The increased event statistics coupled with improved analysis techniques and improved knowledge of the LEP beam energies permit significantly better measurements of the mass and width of the Z 0 resonance. Model independent fits to the cross sections and leptonic forward- backward asymmetries yield the following Z 0 parameters: the mass and total width M Z = 91.187 ± 0.009 GeV, Γ Z = 2.486 ± 0.012 GeV, the hadronicf and leptonic partials widths Γ had = 1.725 ± 0.012 GeV, Γ ℓ = 83.01 ± 0.52 MeV, the invisible width Γ inv = 512 ± 10 MeV, the ratio of hadronic to leptonic partial widths R ℓ = 20.78 ± 0.15, and the Born level hadronic peak cross section σ 0 = 40.90 ± 0.28 nb. Using these results and the value of α s determined from DELPHI data, the number of light neutrino species is determined to be 3.08 ± 0.05. The individual leptonic widths are found to be: Γ e = 82.93 ± 0.70 MeV, Γ μ = 83.20 ± 1.11 MeV and Γ τ = 82.89 ± 1.31 MeV. Using the measured leptonic forward-backward asymmetries and assuming lepton universality, the squared vector and axial-vector couplings of the Z 0 to charged leptons are found to be g V ℓ 2 = (1.47 ± 0.51) × 10 −3 and g A ℓ 2 = 0.2483 ± 0.0016. A full Standard Model fit to the data yields a value of the top mass m t = 115 −82 +52 (expt.) −24 +52 (Higgs) GeV, corresponding to a value of the weak mixing angle sin 2 θ eff lept = 0.2339±0.0015 (expt.) −0.0004 +0.0001 (Higgs). Values are obtained for the variables S and T , or ϵ 1 and ϵ 3 which parameterize electroweak loop effects.