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.

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,

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.

The total and differential cross-sections for the reaction e + e − → γγ ( γ ) are measured at centre of mass energies around 91 GeV using an integrated luminosity of 4.7 pb −1 . The aggreement with QED prediction is good. Consequently there is no evidence for non-standard channels which would have the same experimental signature. The lower limits on the QED cuttoff parameters are Λ + > 113 GeV and Λ − > 95 GeV. An upper limit on the effective coupling between a possible excited electron and the gamma is derived. At 95% confidence level the branching ratios for Z 0 decay into π 0 γ, ηψ and γγγ are below 1.5 × 10 −4 , 2.8 × 10 −4 and 1.4 × 10 −4 respectively.

Measurements of the cross section and forward-backward asymmetry for the reaction e + e − → μ + μ − using the DELPHI detector at LEP are presented. The data come from a scan around the Z 0 peak at seven centre of mass energies, giving a sample of 3858 events in the polar angle region 22° < θ < 158°. From a fit to the cross section for 43° < θ < 137°, a polar angle region for which the absolute efficiency has been determined, the square root of the product of the Z 0 → e + e − and Z 0 → μ + μ − partial widths is determined to be (Γ e Γ μ ) 1 2 = 85.0 ± 0.9( stat. ) ± 0.8( syst. ) MeV . From this measurement of the partial width, the value of the effective weak mixing angle is determined to be sin 2 ( θ w ) = 0.2267 ± 0.0037 . The ratio of the hadronic to muon pair partial widths is found to be Γ h / Γ μ = 19.89 ± 0.40(stat.) ± 0.19(syst.). The forward-backward asymmetry at the resonance peak energy E CMS = 91.22 GeV is found to be A FB = 0.028 ± 0.020(stat.) ± 0.005(syst.). From a combined fit to the cross section and forward-backward asymmetry data, the products of the electron and muon vector and axial-vector coupling constants are determined to be V e V μ = 0.0024 ± 0.0015(stat.) ± 0.0004(syst.) and A e A μ = 0.253 ± 0.003(stat.) ± 0.003 (syst.). The results are in good agreement with the expectations of the minimal standard model.

We have studied the energy-energy angular correlations in hadronic final states from Z 0 decay using the DELPHI detector at LEP. From a comparison with Monte Carlo calculations based on the exact second order QCD matrix element and string fragmentation we find that Λ (5) MS =104 +25 -20 ( stat. ) +25 -20( syst. ) +30 00 ) theor. ) . MeV, which corresponds to α s (91 GeV)=0.106±0.003(stat.)±0.003(syst.) +0.003 -0.000 (theor). The theoretical error stems from different choices for the renormalization scale of α s . In the Monte Carlo simulation the scale of α s as well as the fragmentation parameters have been optimized to described reasonably well all aspects of multihadron production.

From measurements of the cross sections for e + e − → hadrons and the cross sections and forward-backward charge-asymmetries for e e −→ e + e − , μ + μ − and π + π − at several centre-of-mass energies around the Z 0 pole with the DELPHI apparatus, using approximately 150 000 hadronic and leptonic events from 1989 and 1990, one determines the following Z 0 parameters: the mass and total width M Z = 91.177 ± 0.022 GeV, Γ Z = 2.465 ± 0.020 GeV , the hadronic and leptonic partial widths Γ h = 1.726 ± 0.019 GeV, Γ l = 83.4 ± 0.8 MeV, the invisible width Γ inv = 488 ± 17 MeV, the ratio of hadronic over leptonic partial widths R Z = 20.70 ± 0.29 and the Born level hadronic peak cross section σ 0 = 41.84±0.45 nb. A flavour-independent measurement of the leptonic cross section gives very consistent results to those presented above ( Γ l = 83.7 ± 0.8 rmMeV ). From these results the number of light neutrino species is determined to be N v = 2.94 ±0.10. The individual leptonic widths obtained are: Γ e = 82.4±_1.2 MeV, Γ u = 86.9±2.1 MeV and Γ τ = 82.7 ± 2.4 MeV. Assuming universality, the squared vector and axial-vector couplings of the Z 0 to charged leptons are: V ̄ l 2 = 0.0003±0.0010 and A ̄ l 2 = 0.2508±0.0027 . These values correspond to the electroweak parameters: ϱ eff = 1.003 ± 0.011 and sin 2 θ W eff = 0.241 ± 0.009. Within the Minimal Standard Model (MSM), the results can be expressed in terms of a single parameter: sin 2 θ W M ̄ S = 0.2338 ± 0.0027 . All these values are in good agreement with the predictions of the MSM. Fits yield 43< m top < 215 GeV at the 95% level. Finally, the measured values of Γ Z and Γ inv are used to derived lower mass bounds for possible new particles.

The forward-backward asymmetry of bottom quarks is measured with statistics of approximately 80 000 hadronic Z 0 decays produced in e + e − collisions at a centre of mass energy of √ s ≈ M z . The tagging of b quark events has been performed using the semileptonic decay channel b→X+ μ . Because the asymmetry depends on the weak coupling, this leads to a precise measurement of the electroweak mixing angle sin 2 θ w . The experimental result is A FB b = 0.115±0.043(stat.)±0.013(syst.). After correcting the value for the B 0 B 0 mixing this becomes A FB b =0.161±0.060(stat.)±0.021(syst.) corresponding to sin 2 θ W MS =0.221±0.011( stat. )±0.004( syst. ) .

An analysis of the production of strange particles from the decays of the Z 0 boson into multihadronic final states is presented. The analysis is based on about 90 000 selected hadronic Z 0 decays collected by the DELPHI detector at LEP in 1990. K s 0 , K ∗± , Λ( Λ ) and Ξ − ( Ξ + ) have been identified by their characteristic decays. The measured production cross sections are compared with predictions of the Lund Monte Carlo tuned to data at PEP/PETRA energies.

The multiplicity distributions of charged particles in full phase space and in restricted rapidity intervals for events with a fixed number of jets measured by the DELPHI detector are presented. The data are well reproduced by the Lund Parton Shower model and can also be well described by fitted negative binomial distributions. The properties of these distributions in terms of the clan model are discussed. In symmetric 3-jet events the candidate gluon jet is found not to be significantly different in average multiplicity than the mean of the other two jets, thus supporting previous results of the HRS and OPAL experiments. Similar results hold for events generated according to the LUND PS and to the HERWIG models, when the jets are defined by the JADE jet finding algorithm. The method seems to be insensitive for measuring the color charge ratio between gluons and quarks.