The cross-section for the process e+e- -> W+W- has been measured with the data sample collected by DELPHI at an average centre-of-mass energy of 189 GeV and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 155 pb^{-1}. Based on the 2392 events selected as WW candidates, the cross-section for the doubly resonant process e+e- -> W+W- has been measured to be 15.83 +- 0.38 (stat) +- 0.20 (syst) pb. The branching fractions of the W decay were also measured and found to be in good agreement with the Standard Model expectation. From these a value of the CKM mixing matrix element |V_{cs}| = 1.001 +- 0.040 (stat) +- 0.020 (syst) was derived.

A new measurement of αs is obtained from the distributions in thrust, heavy jet mass, energy-energy correlation and two recently introduced jet broadening variables following a method proposed by Cata

Production of Sigma- and Lambda(1520) in hadronic Z decays has been measured using the DELPHI detector at LEP. The Sigma- is directly reconstructed as a charged track in the DELPHI microvertex detector and is identified by its Sigma -> n pi decay leading to a kink between the Sigma- and pi-track. The reconstruction of the Lambda(1520) resonance relies strongly on the particle identification capabilities of the barrel Ring Imaging Cherenkov detector and on the ionisation loss measurement of the TPC. Inclusive production spectra are measured for both particles. The production rates are measured to be <N_{Sigma-}/N_{Z}^{had}> = 0.081 +/- 0.002 +/- 0.010, <N_{Lambda(1520)}/N_{Z}^{had}> = 0.029 +/- 0.005 +/- 0.005. The production rate of the Lambda(1520) suggests that a large fraction of the stable baryons descend from orbitally excited baryonic states. It is shown that the baryon production rates in Z decays follow a universal phenomenological law related to isospin, strangeness and mass of the particles.

First measurements of the mass and width of the Z 0 performed at the newly commissioned LEP Collider by the DELPHI Collaboration are presented. The measuements are derived from the study of multihadronic final states produced in e + e − annihilations at several energies around the Z 0 mass. The values found for the mass and width are M (Z 0 )=91.06±0.09 (stat) ±0.045 (syst.) GeV and Γ (Z 0 )=2.42±0.21 (stat.) GeV respectively, froma three-parameter fit to the line shape. A two-parameter fit in the framework of the standard model yields for the number of light neutrino species N ν =2.4±0.4 (stat.) ±0.5 (syst.).

A measurement of the cross section for e + e - → hadrons using 11 000 hadronic decays of the Z boson at ten different center-of-mass energies is presented. A three-parameter fit gives the following values for the Z mass M z , the total width Γ z , the product of the electronic and hadronic partial widths Γ e Γ h , and the unfolded pole cross section σ 0 : M Z =91.171±0.030(stat)±0.030 (beam) GeV, Γ Z =2.511±0.065 GeV, Γ e Γ h =0.148±0.006 (stat.)±0.004 (syst.) GeV 2 , σ 0 =41.6±0.7(stat.)±1.1 (syst.) nb,

The production of single photons has been studied in the reaction e+e- -> gamma + invisible particles at centre-of-mass energies of 183 GeV and 189 GeV. A previously published analysis of events with multi-photon final states accompanied by missing energy has been updated with 189 GeV data. The data were collected with the DELPHI detector and correspond to integrated luminosities of about 51 pb^{-1} and 158 pb^{-1} at the two energies. The number of light neutrino families is measured to be 2.84 +/- 0.15(stat) +/- 0.14(syst). The absence of an excess of events beyond that expected from Standard Model processes is used to set limits on new physics as described by supersymmetric and composite models. A limit on the gravitational scale is also determined.

The nature of b-quark jet hadronisation has been investigated using data taken at the Z peak by the DELPHI detector at LEP. Two complementary methods are used to reconstruct the energy of weakly decaying b-hadrons, E^weak_B. The average value of x^weak_B = E^weak_B/E_beam is measured to be 0.699 +/- 0.011. The resulting x^weak_B distribution is then analysed in the framework of two choices for the perturbative contribution (parton shower and Next to Leading Log QCD calculation) in order to extract measurements of the non-perturbative contribution to be used in studies of b-hadron production in other experimental environments than LEP. In the parton shower framework, data favour the Lund model ansatz and corresponding values of its parameters have been determined within PYTHIA~6.156 from DELPHI data: a= 1.84^{+0.23}_{-0.21} and b=0.642^{+0.073}_{-0.063} GeV^-2, with a correlation factor rho = 92.2%. Combining the data on the b-quark fragmentation distributions with those obtained at the Z peak by ALEPH, OPAL and SLD, the average value of x^weak_B is found to be 0.7092 +/- 0.0025 and the non-perturbative fragmentation component is extracted. Using the combined distribution, a better determination of the Lund parameters is also obtained: a= 1.48^{+0.11}_{-0.10} and b=0.509^{+0.024}_{-0.023} GeV^-2, with a correlation factor rho = 92.6%.

Measurements of the Xi- and anti-Xi+ masses, mass differences, lifetimes and lifetime differences are presented. The anti-Xi+ sample used is much larger than those used previously for such measurements. In addition, the Xi production rates in Z -> b anti-b and Z -> q anti-q events are compared and the position xi* of the maximum of the xi distribution in Z -> q anti-q events is measured.

Inclusive distributions of charged particles in hadronic W decays are experimentally investigated using the statistics collected by the DELPHI experiment at LEP during 1997, 1998 and 1999, at centre-of-mass energies from 183 to around 200 GeV. The possible effects of interconnection between the hadronic decays of two Ws are not observed. Measurements of the average multiplicity for charged and identified particles in q qbar and WW events at centre-of-mass energies from 130 to 200 GeV and in W decays are presented. The results on the average multiplicity of identified particles and on the position xi^* of the maximum of the xi_p = -log(2p/sqrt(s)) distribution are compared with predictions of JETSET and MLLA calculations.

Data are presented on the reaction e+e− → γ + no other detected particle at centre-of-mass energies of 89.48, 91.26 and 93.08 GeV. The cross-section for this reaction is related directly to the number of light neutrino generations which couple to the Z° boson, and to several other possible phenomena such as the production of excited neutrinos, the production of any invisible ‘X’ particle, and the magnetic moment of the tau neutrino. Based on the observed number of single photon events, the number of light neutrinos that couple to the Z° is measured to be Nv = 2.89 ± 0.38. No evidence is found for anomalous production of energetic single photons, and upper limits at 95% confidence level are determined for excited neutrino production (BR < 4 − 8 × 10−6 depending on its mass), production of an invisible ‘X’ particle (σ, < 0.1 pb for masses below 60 GeV), and the magnetic moment of the tau neutrino (< 5.1 × 10-6 μB).