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Search for lepton flavour violation in e+ e- collisions at s**(1/2) = 189-GeV - 209-GeV.

The OPAL collaboration Abbiendi, G. ; Ainsley, C. ; Akesson, P.F. ; et al.
Phys.Lett.B 519 (2001) 23-32, 2001.
Inspire Record 562543 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.49819

We search for lepton flavour violating events (e mu, e tau and mu tau) that could be directly produced in e+e- annihilations, using the full available data sample collected with the OPAL detector at centre-of-mass energies between 189 GeV and 209 GeV. In general, the Standard Model expectations describe the data well for all the channels and at each sqrt(s). A single e mu event is observed where according to our Monte Carlo simulations only 0.019 events are expected from Standard Model processes. We obtain the first limits on the cross-sections sigma(e+e- -> e mu, e tau and mu tau) as a function of sqrt(s) at LEP2 energies.

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Measurement of isolated prompt photon production in photon photon collisions at s(ee)**(1/2) = 183-GeV - 209-GeV.

The OPAL collaboration Abbiendi, G. ; Ainsley, C. ; Akesson, P.F. ; et al.
Eur.Phys.J.C 31 (2003) 491-502, 2003.
Inspire Record 619533 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.48831

For the first time at LEP the production of prompt photons is studied in the collisions of quasi-real photons using the OPAL data taken at e+e- centre-of-mass energies between 183 GeV and 209 GeV. The total inclusive production cross-section for isolated prompt photons in the kinematic range of photon transverse momentum larger than 3.0 GeV and absolute photon pseudorapidity less than 1 is determined to be 0.32 +- 0.04 (stat) +- 0.04 (sys) pb. Differential cross-sections are compared to the predictions of a next-to-leading-order (NLO) calculation.

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Photonic events with missing energy in e+ e- collisions at s**(1/2) = 189-GeV.

The OPAL collaboration Abbiendi, G. ; Ackerstaff, K. ; Ainsley, C. ; et al.
Eur.Phys.J.C 18 (2000) 253-272, 2000.
Inspire Record 526776 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.49967

Photonic events with large missing energy have been observed in e+e- collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 189GeV using the OPAL detector at LEP. Results are presented for event topologies consistent with a single photon or with an acoplanar photon pair. Cross-section measurements are performed within the kinematic acceptance of each selection, and the number of light neutrino species is measured. Cross-section results are compared with the expectations from the Standard Model process e+e- to nu nubar + photon(s). No evidence is observed for new physics contributions to these final states. Upper limits are derived on sigma(e+e- to XY).BR(X to Y gamma) and sigma(e+e- to XX).BR**2(X to Y gamma) for the case of stable and invisible Y. These limits apply to single and pair production of excited neutrinos (X=nu*, Y = nu), to neutralino production (X=neutralino_2, Y=neutralino_1) and to supersymmetric models in which X = neutralino_1 and Y = light gravitino. The case of macroscopic decay lengths of particle X is considered for e+e- to XX, X to Y gamma, when M_Y is of order zero. The single-photon results are also used to place upper limits on superlight gravitino pair production as well as graviton-photon production in the context of theories with additional space dimensions.

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Production of fermion-pair events in e+ e- collisions at 161-GeV centre-of-mass energy.

The OPAL collaboration Ackerstaff, K. ; Alexander, G. ; Allison, John ; et al.
Phys.Lett.B 391 (1997) 221-234, 1997.
Inspire Record 426210 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.47711

Cross-sections for hadronic and leptonic two-fermion events, and leptonic forward-backward asymmetries, have been measured in e + e − collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 161 GeV, using the OPAL detector at LEP. Results are presented both including and excluding the dominant production of radiative γZ 0 events. We have measured R b , the ratio of the number of b b to all multihadronic events at 161 GeV, and compared it to the result obtained at 130–136 GeV. All results agree well with the Standard Model expectations. In a model-independent fit to the Z 0 lineshape, the data presented here give an improved precision on the γZ 0 -interference term. The data have also been used to obtain new limits on extensions of the Standard Model described by effective four-fermion contact interactions.

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Measurements with photonic events in e+ e- collisions at centre-of-mass energies of 130-GeV to 140-GeV.

The OPAL collaboration Alexander, G. ; Allison, John ; Altekamp, N. ; et al.
Phys.Lett.B 377 (1996) 222-234, 1996.
Inspire Record 418011 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.47829

Cross-sections and angular distributions for the production of events with single and multiple photons are measured from data recorded with the OPAL detector at the recently upgraded LEP collider. The measured cross-sections are generally consistent with Standard Model expectations for the e + e − → ν v γ(γ) and e + e − → γγ ( γ ) processes. Six events with an acoplanar photon pair and large missing mass are found. The observed number of events is larger than expected from e + e − → ν ν γγ ; however, the missing mass distribution is compatible with the Z 0 resonance. Deviations from QED are constrained by the data on e + e − → γγ ( γ ). Lower limits are set at 95% confidence level on the QED cut-off parameters Λ + and Λ − of 152 GeV and 142 GeV, respectively, and also on the mass of an excited electron of 147 GeV.

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A Measurement of K*+- (892) production in hadronic Z0 decays

The OPAL collaboration Acton, P.D. ; Alexander, G. ; Allison, John ; et al.
Phys.Lett.B 305 (1993) 407-414, 1993.
Inspire Record 342766 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.28930

Measurements are presented of the inclusive cross section for K ∗ (892) ± production in hadronic decays of the Z 0 using a sample of about half a million events recorded with the OPAL experiment at LEP. Charged K ∗ mesons are reconstructed in the decay channel K 0 S π ± . A mean rate of 0.72±0.02±0.08 K ∗ mesons per hadronic event is found. Comparison of the results with predictions of the JETSET and HERWIG models shows that JETSET overestimates the K ∗± production cross section while HERWIG is consistent with the data.

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Multi-photon production in e+ e- collisions at s**(1/2) = 183-GeV.

The OPAL collaboration Ackerstaff, K. ; Alexander, G. ; Allison, John ; et al.
Phys.Lett.B 438 (1998) 379-390, 1998.
Inspire Record 472640 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.49412

The process e+e- to gamma gamma (gamma) is studied using data recorded with the OPAL detector at LEP. The data sample corresponds to a total integrated luminosity of 56.2 pb-1 taken at a centre-of-mass energy of 183 GeV. The measured cross-section agrees well with the expectation from QED. A fit to the angular distribution is used to obtain improved limits at 95% CL on the QED cut-off parameters: Lambda+ > 233 GeV and Lambda- > 265 GeV as well as a mass limit for an excited electron, M(e*) > 227 GeV assuming equal e*egamma and eegamma couplings. No evidence for resonance production is found in the invariant mass spectrum of photon pairs. Limits are obtained for the cross-section times branching ratio for a resonance decaying into two photons.

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Measurement of the W boson mass and W+ W- production and decay properties in e+ e- collisions at s**(1/2) = 172-GeV

The OPAL collaboration Ackerstaff, K. ; Alexander, G. ; Allison, John ; et al.
Eur.Phys.J.C 1 (1998) 395-424, 1998.
Inspire Record 448093 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.47403

This paper describes the measurement of the W boson mass, M_W, and decay width, Gamma_W, from the direct reconstruction of the invariant mass of its decay products in W pair events collected at a mean centre-of-mass energy of sqrt{s} = 172.12 GeV with the OPAL detector at LEP. Measurements of the W pair production cross-section, the W decay branching fractions and properties of the W decay final states are also described. A total of 120 candidate W^+W^- events has been selected for an integrated luminosity of 10.36 pb^-1. The W^+W^- production cross-section is measured to be sigma_WW = 12.3 +/- 1.3(stat.) +/- 0.3(syst.) pb, consistent with the Standard Model expectation. The W^+W^- -> qq(bar) l nu and W^+W^- -> qq(bar)qq(bar) final states are used to obtain a direct measurement of Gamma_W = 1.30^{+0.62}_{-0.55}(stat.) +/- 0.18(syst.) GeV. Assuming the Standard Model relation between M_W and Gamma_W, the W boson mass is measured to be M_W = 80.32 +/- 0.30(stat.) +/- 0.09(syst.) GeV. The event properties of the fully-hadronic decays of W^+W^- events are compared to those of the semi-leptonic decays. At the current level of precision there is no evidence for effects of colour reconnection in the observables studied. Combining data recorded by OPAL at sqrt{s} ~ 161-172 GeV, the W boson branching fraction to hadrons is determined to be 69.8^{+3.0}_{-3.2}(stat.) +/- 0.7(syst.)%, consistent with the prediction of the Standard Model. The combined mass measurement from direct reconstruction and from the W^+W^- production cross-sections measured at sqrt{s} ~ 161 and sqrt{s} ~ 172 GeV is M_W = 80.35 +/- 0.24(stat.) +/- 0.07(syst.) GeV.

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Search for anomalous photonic events with missing energy in e+ e- collisions at s**(1/2) = 130-GeV, 136-GeV and 183-GeV.

The OPAL collaboration Abbiendi, G. ; Ackerstaff, K. ; Alexander, G. ; et al.
Eur.Phys.J.C 8 (1999) 23-40, 1999.
Inspire Record 477626 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.49342

Photonic events with large missing energy have been observed in $e^+ e^-$ collisions at centre-of-mass energies of 130, 136 and 183 GeV collected in 1997 using the OPAL detector at LEP. Results are presented for event topologies with a single photon and missing transverse energy or with an acoplanar photon pair. Cross-section measurements are performed within the kinematic acceptance of each selection. These results are compared with the expectations from the Standard Model process $e^+e^-$ $\rightarrow \nu \bar{\nu +}$ photon(s). No evidence is observed for new physics contributions to these final states. Using the data at $\sqrt{s} = 183$ GeV, upper limits on $\sigma$ ($e^+ e^-$ $\rightarrow$ X.Y)*BR(X $\to \textrm{Y}_{\gamma}$) and $\sigma$ ($e^+ e^-$ $\rightarrow$ X.X)*BR$^2$ (X $\to \textrm{Y}_{\gamma}$) are derived for the case of stable and invisible Y. These limits apply to single and pair production of excited neutrinos $(\textrm{X} = \nu^*, \textrm{Y} = \nu)$, to neutralino production $(\textrm{X} = \overline{\chi}^0_2, \textrm{Y} = \overline{\chi}^0_1)$ and to supersymmetric models in which $X = \overline{\chi}^0_1$ and $Y=\overline{\textrm{G}}$ is a light gravitino.

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W+ W- production cross section and W branching fractions in e+ e- collisions at 189-GeV.

The OPAL collaboration Abbiendi, G. ; Ackerstaff, K. ; Ainsley, C. ; et al.
Phys.Lett.B 493 (2000) 249-265, 2000.
Inspire Record 533110 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.49910

From a data sample of 183 pb^-1 recorded at a center-of-mass energy of roots = 189 GeV with the OPAL detector at LEP, 3068 W-pair candidate events are selected. Assuming Standard Model W boson decay branching fractions, the W-pair production cross section is measured to be sigmaWW = 16.30 +- 0.34(stat.) +- 0.18(syst.) pb. When combined with previous OPAL measurements, the W boson branching fraction to hadrons is determined to be 68.32 +- 0.61(stat.) +- 0.28(syst.) % assuming lepton universality. These results are consistent with Standard Model expectations.

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