Exclusive production of π and K meson pairs in two photon collisions is measured with ALEPH data collected between 1992 and 2000. Cross-sections are presented as a function of cos θ ∗ and invariant mass, for | cos θ ∗ |<0.6 and invariant masses between 2.0 and 6.0 GeV/ c 2 (2.25 and 4.0 GeV/ c 2 ) for pions (kaons). The shape of the distributions are found to be well described by QCD predictions but the data have a significantly higher normalization.

The inclusive production of D$^{*\pm}$ mesons in two-photon collisions is measured with the ALEPH detector at $\epem$ centre-of-mass energies from 183$\unit{GeV}$ to 209$\unit{GeV}$. A total of $360 \pm 27$ D$^{*\pm}$ meson events were observed from an integrated luminosity of 699\unit{pb^{-1}}$. Contributions from direct and single-resolved rocesses are separated using the ratio of the transverse momentum $p_{\rm t}^{\rm D^{*\pm}}$ of the D$^{*\pm}$ to the visible invariant mass $W_{\mathrm{vis}}$ of the event. Differential cross sections of D$^{*\pm}$ production as functions of $p_{\rm t}^{\rm D^{*\pm}}$ and the pseudorapidity $|\eta^{\rm D^{*\pm}}| $ are measured in the range $ 2\unit{GeV}/c < p_{\rm t}^{\rm D^{*\pm}} < 12\unit{GeV}/c $ and $ |\eta^{\rm D^{*\pm}}| < 1.5 $. They are compared to next-to-leading order (NLO)perturbative QCD calculations. The extrapolation of the integrated visible D$^{*\pm}$ cross section to the total charm cross section, based on the Pythia Monte Carlo program, yields $ \sigma (\epem \to \epem \ccbar)_ {=197\unit{GeV}} = 731 \pm 74_{\mathrm{stat}} \pm 47_{\mathrm{syst}} \pm 157_{\mathrm{extr}} \unit{pb} $.

A search has been made for direct production of heavy quarkonium states in more than 3 million hadronic Z0 decays in the 1991–1994 DELPHI data. Prompt J/ψ, ψ(2S) and Υ candidates have been searched for through their leptonic decay modes using criteria based on the kinematics and decay vertex positions. New upperlimits are set at the 90% confidence level for Br(Z0 → (QQ) X)/Br (Z0 → hadrons) for various strong production mechanisms of J/ψ and Υ these range down to 0.9 × 10−4. The limits are set in the presence of a small excess (∼ 1% statistical probability of a background fluctuation) in the sum of candidates from prompt J/ψ, ψ(2S), Υ(1S),Υ(2S) and Υ(3S) relative to the estimated background.

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A study of inclusive production of the meson resonances ρ 0 , K ∗0 (892), ƒ 0 (975) and ƒ 2 (1270) in hadronic decays of the Z 0 is presented. The measured mean meson multiplicity per hadronic event is 0.83 ± 0.14 for the ρ 0 0.64 ± 0.24 for the K ∗0 (892), 0.10 ± 0.04 for the ƒ 0 (975) in the momentum range p > 0.05 p beam ( x p > 0.05) and 0.11 ± 0.05 for the ƒ 2 (1270) for x p > 0.1 . These values and the corresponding differential cross sections ( 1 σ hadr ) d σ d x p for the vector mesons are in good agreement with the predictions of the JETSET 7.3 PS and HERWIG 5.4 models. The ƒ 2 (1270) production is overestimated by HERWIG but its x p -shape is correctly reproduced. The measured ratios of the production cross sections σ(ƒ 2 (1270)) σ(ρ 0 ) = 0.22 ± 0.08 and σ(ƒ 2 (1270)) σ(ƒ 0 (975)) = 3 −1 +7 for x p > 0.1 are consistent with the results obtained in hadronic reactions.

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).

The total and the differential cross sections for the reaction e + e − → γγ ( γ ) have been measured with the DELPHI detector at LEP using an integrated luminosity of 36.9 pb −1 . The results agree with the QED predictions and consequently there is no evidence for non-standard channels with the same experimental signature. The lower limits obtained on the QED cutoff parameters are Λ + > 143 GeV and Λ − > 120 GeV, and the lower bound on the mass of an excited electron with an effective coupling constant λ γ = 1 is 132 GeV/ c 2 . Upper limits on the branching ratios for the decays Z 0 → γγ , Z 0 → π 0 γ , Z 0 → ηγ and Z 0 → γγγ have been determined to be 5.5 × 10 −5 , 5.5 × 10 −5 , 8.0 × 10 −5 , and 1.7 × 10 −5 respectively. All the limits are at the 95% confidence level.

We study the process $e^+e^-\to\pi^+\pi^-\pi^+\pi^-\gamma$, with a hard photon radiated from the initial state. About 60,000 fully reconstructed events have been selected from 89 $fb^{-1}$ of BaBar data. The invariant mass of the hadronic final state defines the effective \epem center-of-mass energy, so that these data can be compared with the corresponding direct $e^+e^-$ measurements. From the $4\pi$-mass spectrum, the cross section for the process $e^+e^-\to\pi^+\pi^-\pi^+\pi^-$ is measured for center-of-mass energies from 0.6 to 4.5 $GeV/c^2$. The uncertainty in the cross section measurement is typically 5%. We also measure the cross sections for the final states $K^+ K^- \pi^+\pi^-$ and $K^+ K^- K^+ K^-$. We observe the $J/\psi$ in all three final states and measure the corresponding branching fractions. We search for X(3872) in $J/\psi (\to\mu^+\mu^-) \pi^+\pi^-$ and obtain an upper limit on the product of the $e^+e^-$ width of the X(3872) and the branching fraction for $X(3872) \to J/\psi\pi^+\pi^-$.

The process e+e- --> pi+ pi- pi0 gamma has been studied at a center-of-mass energy near the Y(4S) resonance using a 89.3 fb-1 data sample collected with the BaBar detector at the PEP-II collider. From the measured 3pi mass spectrum we have obtained the products of branching fractions for the omega and phi mesons, B(omega --> e+e-)B(omega --> 3pi)=(6.70 +/- 0.06 +/- 0.27)10-5 and B(phi --> e+e-)B(phi --> 3pi)=(4.30 +/- 0.08 +/- 0.21)10-5, and evaluated the e+e- --> pi+ pi- pi0 cross section for the e+e- center-of-mass energy range 1.05 to 3.00 GeV. About 900 e+e- --> J/psi gamma --> pi+ pi- pi0 gamma events have been selected and the branching fraction B(J/psi --> pi+ pi- pi0)=(2.18 +/- 0.19)% has been measured.

Antinucleon-nucleus annihilations into two-body final states containing only one or no meson are unusual annihilations (Pontecorvo reactions), practically unexplored experimentally, with the exception of the channel p d → π − p , for which only two low-statistics measurements exist. Their physical interest lies in the possibility of exploring small-distance nuclear dynamics, in which an important role can be played by non-nucleonic degrees of freedom. A new measurement of the p d → π − p reaction rate at rest, performed with the OBELIX spectrometer at LEAR, with the best statistics up to now and a careful evaluation of systematic effects is reported, together with a critical analysis of the existing theoretical models. The measured branching ratio, which confirms the previous results, can represent a reference point for the studies in the field.