Hadron production by e + e − annihilation has been studied for c.m. energies W between 13 and 31.6 GeV. As a function of 1n W the charged particle multiplicity grows faster at high energy than at lower energies. This is correlated with a rise in the plateau of the rapidity distribution. The cross section s d σ /d x is found to scale within ±30% for x > 0.2 and 5 ⩽ W ⩽ 31.6 GeV.
We report experimental results on the cross section for the reaction e + e − → hadrons as a function of the total c.m. energy in the range W = 1.42–3.09 GeV. The results, combined with those already existing below the charm threshold, clearly indicate a structure for R ( W ) = α ( e + e − → hadrons)/ α ( e + e − → μ + μ − ) in that energy region.
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.
Production of pions, kaons, protons and antiprotons has been studied in e + e − annihilations at 12 and 30 GeV centre of mass energy using time of flight techniques. The fractional yield of charged kaons and baryons appears to rise with outgoing particle momentum. At our highest energy at least 40% of e + e − annihilations into hadrons are estimated to contain baryons.
Inclusive K 0 -production has been measured in e + e - annihilation at a center of mass energy of about W = 30 GeV. The ratio of K 0 + K 0 production to μ + μ - production is R K 0 = 5.6 ± 1.1 (statist. error) ± 0.8 (system.error) This value is about a factor of three higher than R K 0 at W = 7 GeV. The cross sections ( s / β ) d σ /d x is consistent with a scaling behaviour.
Inclusive momentum and energy spectra of neutral and charged D-mesons produced in e + e − annihilation at energies near 7 GeV are presented. The slope of the energy spectrum is similar to the charged pion spectrum at the same energy. The inclusive cross section σ(e + e − → D or D + anything) at 7 GeV is 4.8±1.3 nb.
We have observed e + e − hadrons at C.M. energies of 13 GeV and 17 GeV at PETRA using the TASSO detector. We find R (13 GeV) = 5.6 ± 0.7 and R (17 GeV) = 4.0 ± 0.7. The additional systematic uncertainty is 20%. Comparing inclusive charged hadron spectra we observe scaling between 5 GeV and 17 GeV for x = p / p beam > 0.2; however the 13 GeV cross section is above the 17 GeV cross section for smaller x . This may be due to copious bb̄ production. The events become increasingly jet like at high energies as evidenced by a shrinking sphericity distribution with increasing energy.
Using the ARGUS detector at the DORIS II storage ring at DESY, we have observed a charmed meson of mass (2455±3±5) MeV/c2, decaying to D + π − . The natural width of this state is determined to be (15 +13+5 −10−10 ) MeV c 2 . The fragmentation function is hard, as expected for a leading charmed particle from nonresonant e + e − annihilation. Analysis of the decay angular distribution supports the hypothesis that the observed state is an L =1 excited charmed meson with spin-parity 2 + .
The e + e − → π + π − cross section has been measured from about 280 events (an order of magnitude more than the previous world statistics) in the energy interval 1.35 ⩽ s ⩽ 2.4 GeV with the DM2 detector at DCI. The pion squared form factor | F π | 2 shows a deep minimum around 1.6 GeV/ c 2 and is better fit under the hypothesis of two ϱ-like resonance ⋍0.25 GeV/ c 2 wide with 1.42 and 1.77 GeV/ c 2 masses.
Results on the reaction γγ → π + π − π 0 π 0 are presented. There is clear evidence for correlated ϱ + ϱ − production. The cross section is much lower than for γγ → ϱ 0 ϱ 0 .