This report reviews the experimental investigation of high energy e + e − interactions by the MARK J collaboration at PETRA, the electron-positron colliding beam accelerator at DESY in Hamburg, Germany. The physics objectives include studies of several purely electromagnetic processes and hadronic final states, which further our knowledge of the nature of the fundamental constituents and of their strong, electromagnetic and weak interactions. Before discussing the physics results, the main features and the principal components of the MARK J detector are discussed in terms of design, function, and performance. Several aspects of the on-line data collection and the off-line analysis are also outlined. Results are presented on tests of quantum electrodynamics using e + e − → e + e − , μ + μ − and τ + τ − , on the measurement of R , the ratio of the hadronic to the point-like muon pair cross section, on the search for new quark flavors, on the discovery of three jet events arising from the radiation of hard noncollinear gluons as predicted by quantum chromodynamics, and on the determination of the strong coupling constant α s .
We report on the results of the study of e + e − collisions at the highest PETRA energy of √ s = 31.57 GeV, using the 4π sr, electromagnetic and calorimetric detector Mark J. Based on 88 hadron events, and an integrated luminosity of 243 nb −1 we obtain R = σ (e + e − → hadrons)/ σ (e + e − → μ + μ − ) = 4.0 ± 0.5 (statistical) ± 6 (systematic). The R value, the measured thrust distribution and average spherocity show no evidence for the production of new quark flavors.
The polarization of tau leptons in the reaction e+ e- --> tau+ tau- has been measured using a e+e- collider, TRISTAN, at the center-of-mass energy of 58 GeV. From the kinematical distributions of daughter particles in tau --> e nu nu-bar, mu nu nu-bar, rho nu or pi(K) nu decays, the average polarization of tau- and its forward-backward asymmetry have been evaluated to be 0.012 +- 0.058 and 0.029 +- 0.057, respectively.
Earlier measurements at LEP of isolated hard photons in hadronic Z decays, attributed to radiation from primary quark pairs, have been extended in the ALEPH experiment to include hard photon productioninside hadron jets. Events are selected where all particles combine democratically to form hadron jets, one of which contains a photon with a fractional energyz≥0.7. After statistical subtraction of non-prompt photons, the quark-to-photon fragmentation function,D(z), is extracted directly from the measured 2-jet rate. By taking into account the perturbative contributions toD(z) obtained from anO(ααs) QCD calculation, the unknown non-perturbative component ofD(z) is then determined at highz. Provided due account is taken of hadronization effects nearz=1, a good description of the other event topologies is then found.
We present measurements of the structure function \Ft\ in $e~+p$ scattering at HERA in the range $3.5\;\Gevsq < \qsd < 5000\;\Gevsq$. A new reconstruction method has allowed a significant improvement in the resolution of the kinematic variables and an extension of the kinematic region covered by the experiment. At $ \qsd < 35 \;\Gevsq$ the range in $x$ now spans $6.3\cdot 10~{-5} < x < 0.08$ providing overlap with measurements from fixed target experiments. At values of $Q~2$ above 1000 GeV$~2$ the $x$ range extends to 0.5. Systematic errors below 5\perc\ have been achieved for most of the kinematic region. The structure function rises as \x\ decreases; the rise becomes more pronounced as \qsd\ increases. The behaviour of the structure function data is well described by next-to-leading order perturbative QCD as implemented in the DGLAP evolution equations.
The total cross section fore+e− annihilation into hadrons for center of mass energies from 9.4 to 9.5 GeV has been measured with the nonmagnetic DESY-Heidelberg detector at DORIS. A value ofR=σhad/σµµ=3.8±0.7 for the continuum region around the Υ (9.46) resonance has been determined. The ratioΓeeΓhad/Γtot of electronic, hadronic and total widths has been reevaluated to be (1.00±0.23) keV for the Υ resonance and (0.37±0.16) keV for the Υ′. In addition, a search for directly produced pohotons from Υ decays of the type Υ→γ+gluon+gluon has been performed. The Υ decay into muon pairs has also been searched for.
Using the detector ARGUS at thee+e− storage ring DORIS II, we have investigated inclusive momentum spectra of charged pions, kaons, and protons from decays of the υ(4S) meson. The kaon spectra have been measured in two independent ways, by coherently exploiting the detector's particle identification capabilities, and by detecting decays in-flight. The extracted mean multiplicities for charged hadrons are 7.17±0.05±0.14 pions, 1.56±0.03±0.05 kaons and 0.110±0.010±0.007 protons per υ(4S) decay, where pions and protons fromKso and Δ decays have been subtracted.
The inclusive production cross sections of η′ (958) andfo (975) mesons are measured ine+e− annihilation in the nonresonant continuum around\(\sqrt s= 10\) GeV and in decays of the υ resonances using the ARGUS detector. For η′ (958) mesons, a production ratio of η′ (958)/ηdir=0.35±0.24, with ηdir=η−BR(η′→ηX)·η′, is determined in direct υ(1S) decays, which can be partially explained by the pseudoscalar singlet/octet mixing. Forfo(975) production, we obtain a production ratio offo(975)/p(770)°=0.17±0.030 in direct υ(1S) decays. In its production features, thefo(975) behaves like an ordinary meson, though aK\(\bar K\) molecule nature cannot be excluded. The substantial production yield of thefo(975) meson demonstrates the important effect of feeddown from mesons beyond the basic multiples on pseudoscalar and vector meson production.
Using the CELLO detector, we have measured cross sections for the processγγ→π+π− in the mass range 0.75–1.9 GeV/c2. A partial wave fit to the data indicates the presence of a sizeableS-wave amplitude with signs of resonant behaviour. Values for the γγ width of thef2(1270) are given, showing the model-dependence of this quantity. At higher dipion masses, the model of Brodsky and Lepage is found to give an order of magnitude description of the data.
We report a high-precision measurement of the ratio R of the total cross section for e+e−→hadrons to that for e+e−→μ+μ−, at a center-of-mass energy of 29.0 GeV using the MAC detector. The result is R=3.96±0.09. This value of R is used to determine a value of the strong coupling constant αs of 0.23±0.06, nearly independent of fragmentation models. Two different analysis methods having quite different event-selection criteria have been used and the results are in agreement. Particular attention has been given to the study of systematic errors. New higher-order QED calculations are used for the luminosity determination and the acceptance for hadrons.