We report e+e- --> b anti-b cross section measurements by the BABAR experiment performed during an energy scan in the range of 10.54 to 11.20 GeV at the PEP-II e+e- collider. A total relative error of about 5% is reached in more than three hundred center-of-mass energy steps, separated by about 5 MeV. These measurements can be used to derive precise information on the parameters of the Y(10860) and Y(11020) resonances. In particular we show that their widths may be smaller than previously measured.

A search for charmonium and other new states is performed in a study of exclusive initial-state-radiation production of D Dbar events from electron-positron annihilations at a center-of-mass energy of 10.58 GeV. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 384 fb-1 and was recorded by the BABAR experiment at the PEP-II storage ring. The D Dbar mass spectrum shows clear evidence of the psi(3770) plus other structures near 3.9, 4.1, and 4.4 GeV/c^2. No evidence for Y(4260) -> D Dbar is observed, leading to an upper limit of B(Y(4260) -> D Dbar)/B(Y(4260) -> J/psi pi+ pi-) < 1.0 at 90 % confidence level.

We report the observation of $\e^+e^-\to \phi\eta$ near $\sqrt{s}$ = 10.58 GeV with 6.5 $\sigma$ significance in the $K^+K^-\gamma\gamma$ final state in a data sample of 224 $fb^{-1}$ collected by the BaBar experiment at the PEP-II $e^+e^-$ storage rings. We measure the restricted radiation-corrected cross section to be $\sigma(\e^+e^- \to \phi \eta) =$$2.1\pm 0.4 (\mathrm{stat})\pm 0.1(\mathrm{syst}) \mathrm{fb}$ within the range $|\cos\theta^*| < 0.8$, where $\theta^*$ is the center-of-mass polar angle of the $\phi$ meson. The $\phi$ meson is required to be in the invariant mass range of 1.008 $< m_{\phi} <$ 1.035 \gevcc. The radiation-corrected cross section in the full $\cos\theta^*$ range is extrapolated to be $2.9\pm 0.5 (\mathrm{stat})\pm 0.1(\mathrm{syst}) \mathrm{fb}$.

We report a study of the processes e+e- -> eta gamma and e+e- -> etaprime gamma at a center-of-mass energy of 10.58 GeV, using a 232 fb^-1 data sample collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II collider at SLAC. We observe 20+6-5 eta gamma and 50+8-7 etaprime gamma events over small backgrounds, and measure the cross sections sigma(e+e- -> eta gamma) =4.5+1.2-1.1(stat)+-0.3(sys) fb and sigma(e+e- -> etaprime gamma)=5.4+-0.8(stat)+-0.3(sys) fb. The corresponding transition form factors at q^2 = 112 GeV^2 are q^2|F_eta(q^2)|=0.229+-0.030+-0.008 GeV, and q^2|F_etaprime(q^2)|=0.251+-0.019+-0.008 GeV, respectively.

The e+e- -> p anti-p cross section is determined over a range of p anti-p masses, from threshold to 4.5 GeV/c^2, by studying the e+e- -> p anti-p gamma process. The data set corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 232 fb^-1, collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II storage ring, at an e+e- center-of-mass energy of 10.6 GeV. The mass dependence of the ratio of electric and magnetic form factors, |G_E/G_M|, is measured for p anti-p masses below 3 GeV/c^2: its value is found to be significantly larger than 1 for masses up to 2.2 GeV/c^2. We also measure J/psi -> p anti-p and psi(2S) -> p anti-p branching fractions and set an upper limit on Y(4260) -> p anti-p production and decay.

The production of $J/\psi$ mesons in continuum $e^+e^-$ annihilations has been studied with the BABAR detector at energies near the $\Upsilon(4S)$ resonance, approximately 10.6 GeV. The mesons are distinguished from $J/\psi$ production in B decays through their center-of-mass momentum and energy. We measure the cross section $e^+e^-\to J/\psi X$ to be $2.52\pm 0.21\pm 0.21$ pb: for momentum above 2 GeV/c, it is $1.87\pm 0.10\pm 0.15$ pb. We set a 90% confidence level upper limit on the branching fraction for direct $\Upsilon(4S)$\to J/\psi X$ decays at $4.7\times 10^{-4}$.

A determination of the number of light neutrino families performed by measuring the cross section of single photon production in e + e − collision near the Z resonance is reported. From an integrated luminosity of 100 pb −1 , collected during the years 1991–94, we have observed 2091 single photon candidates with an energy above 1 GeV in the polar angular region 45°< θ γ <135°. From a maximum likelihood fit to the single photon cross section, the Z decay width into invisible particles is measured to be Γ inv =498±12 (stat) ±12 (sys) MeV . Using the Standard Model couplings of neutrinos to the Z, the number of light neutrino species is determined to be N ν =2.98±0.07(stat)±0.07(sys).

We present a measurement of the average b-hadron lifetime τ b at the e + e − collider LEP. Using hadronic Z decays collected in the period from 1991 to 1994, two independent analyses have been performed. In the first one, the b-decay position is reconstructed as a secondary vertex of hadronic b-decay particles. The second analysis is an updated measurement of τ b using the impact parameter of leptons with high momentum and high transverse momentum. The combined result is τ b =[1549±9 (stat) ±15 (syst)] fs . In addition, we measure the average charged b-decay multiplicity 〈 n b 〉 and the normalized average b-energy 〈 x E 〉 b at LEP to be 〈n b 〉=4.90±0.04 (stat)±0.11 (syst), 〈x E 〉 b =0.709±0.004 (stat+syst).

The formation of the η ′ in the reaction e + e − →e + e − η ′→e + e − π + π − γ has been measured by the L3 detector at a centre-of-mass energy of 91 GeV . The radiative width of the η ′ has been found to be Γ γγ =4.17±0.10 (stat.) ±0.27 (sys.) keV . The Q 2 dependence of the η ′ formation cross section has been measured for Q 2 ≤10 GeV 2 and the η ′ electromagnetic transition form factor has been determined. The form factor can be parametrised by a pole form with Λ=0.900±0.046 (stat.) ±0.022 (sys.) GeV . It is also consistent with recent non-perturbative QCD calculations.

We have studied the structure of hadronic events with a hard, isolated photon in the final state (e + e − → Z → hadrons + γ) in the 3.6 million hadronic events collected with the L3 detector at centre-of-mass energies around 91 GeV. The centre-of-mass energy of the hadronic system is in the range 30 GeV to 86 GeV. Event shape variables have been measured at these reduced centre-of-mass energies and have been compared with the predictions of different QCD Monte Carlo programs. The event shape variables and the energy dependence of their mean values are well reproduced by QCD models. We fit distributions of several global event shape variables to resummed O (α s 2 ) calculations to determine the strong coupling constant α s over a wide range of energies. We find that the strong coupling constant α s decreases with increasing energy, as expected from QCD.