The inclusive production of D$^{*\pm}$ mesons in two-photon collisions is measured with the ALEPH detector at $\epem$ centre-of-mass energies from 183$\unit{GeV}$ to 209$\unit{GeV}$. A total of $360 \pm 27$ D$^{*\pm}$ meson events were observed from an integrated luminosity of 699\unit{pb^{-1}}$. Contributions from direct and single-resolved rocesses are separated using the ratio of the transverse momentum $p_{\rm t}^{\rm D^{*\pm}}$ of the D$^{*\pm}$ to the visible invariant mass $W_{\mathrm{vis}}$ of the event. Differential cross sections of D$^{*\pm}$ production as functions of $p_{\rm t}^{\rm D^{*\pm}}$ and the pseudorapidity $|\eta^{\rm D^{*\pm}}| $ are measured in the range $ 2\unit{GeV}/c < p_{\rm t}^{\rm D^{*\pm}} < 12\unit{GeV}/c $ and $ |\eta^{\rm D^{*\pm}}| < 1.5 $. They are compared to next-to-leading order (NLO)perturbative QCD calculations. The extrapolation of the integrated visible D$^{*\pm}$ cross section to the total charm cross section, based on the Pythia Monte Carlo program, yields $ \sigma (\epem \to \epem \ccbar)_ {=197\unit{GeV}} = 731 \pm 74_{\mathrm{stat}} \pm 47_{\mathrm{syst}} \pm 157_{\mathrm{extr}} \unit{pb} $.

The interaction of virtual photons is investigated using double tagged gammagamma events with hadronic final states recorded by the ALEPH experiment at e^+e^- centre-of-mass energies between 188 and 209 GeV. The measured cross section is compared to Monte Carlo models, and to next-to-leading-order QCD and BFKL calculations.

Some experimental properties of the charged hadronic fragments are compared for νp, νn,\(\bar vp\) and\(\bar vn\) interactions: multiplicities of forward and backward going particles,xF distributions for pions, fragmentation functions and theirQ2 andW2 dependence. The results are compared with the predictions of the Lund fragmentation model.

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.

We present results for the differential cross sections of neutrinos and antineutrinos on nucleons in the energy range E = 2−200 GeV, from the BEBC and Gargamelle experiments. The structure functions F 2 , 2 χF 1 and χF 3 have been evaluated as a function of χ and q 2 . Deviations are observed from Bjorken scaling, which are very similar to those found in electron and muon inelastic scattering. For the Callan-Gross ratio, we find 2χF 1 F 2 = 0.80 ± 0.12 and the corresponding value for 〈R〉 = 〈 σ S σ T 〉 = 0.15 ± 0.10 . Our results are consistent with the Gross-Llewellyn-Smith sum rule; we measure ⩾2.5 ± 0.5 valence quarks per nucleon. Quark and antiquark distributions are given. The Nachtmann moments of F 2 and χF 3 are quantitatively consistent with the predictions from QCD. The value of the strong interaction parameter is λ = 0.74 ± 0.05 GeV without corrections, and 0.66 ± 0.05 GeV including α S 2 corrections. The moments of the gluon distribution are found to be positive and indicate an χ distribution of gluons which is comparable with that of the valence quarks.

An exposure of BEBC equipped with the hydrogen-filled TST to the v μ wide band beam at the CERN SPS has been used to study v μ interactions on free protons. About neutral induced interactions have been observed inside the hydrogen and separated into charged current, neutral current and neutral hadron interactions using a multivariate discriminant analysis based on the kinematics of the events. The neutral to charged current cross-section ratio has been determined to be R p v = 0.33 ± 0.04 . When combined with the value of R p v previously determined in the same experiment, the result is compatible with the prediction of the standard SU (2) × U (1) model for sin 2 θ W = 0.24 −0.08 +0.06 and ρ = 1.07 −0.08 +0.06 . Fixing the parameter ρ = 1 yields sin 2 θ W = 0.18 ± 0.04.

Charged-current neutrino interactions have been analysed in a sample of pictures from BEBC equipped with a TST. Using a method independent of both the neutrino flux and nuclear interaction corrections, the ratio R = σ n / σ p has been measured. The result is R =1.98±0.19 for the ratio of total cross sections. Bjorken x distributions for proton and neutron targets and for u and d quarks are compared.

Using BEBC equipped with a hydrogen-filled neon-surrounded track-sensitive target, the charged current cross sections and structure functions of hydrogen and neon targets traversed by the same neutrinos and antineutrinos are compared directly. The measured total cross-section ratios between hydrogen and neon allow precise total cross-section values for hydrogen to be inferred. Using this normalization, the ν and ν hydrogen data are combined and the quark distributions in free nucleons, parametrised as functions of ξ, are extracted. This free-nucleon parametrisation is then compared directly with the neon data in order to measure nuclear effects such as those recently reported by the EMC collaboration. Only small effects are seen, in excellent agreement with recent SLAC data in a more similar A and q 2 range.

About 2000 neutral induced interactions observed inside the hydrogen filled TST in BEBC have been analysed. The data were obtained from an exposure to the v μ wide band beam at the CERN SPS. A separation of these events into charged current, neutral current and neutral hadron induced interactions have been achieved using a multidimensional kinematic analysis. The neutral to charged current cross section ratio for v μ interactions on free protons has been determined avoiding the drastic cuts on the data inherent in previous experiments. The result R P v = 0.47 ± 0.04 is compatible with those measurements and the prediction of the standard SU (2) × U (1) model for sin 2 θ W = 0.18 ± 0.04.

The isoscalar nucleon structure functionsF2(x, Q2) andxF3(x, Q2) are measured in the range 0<Q2<64 GeV2, 1.7<W2<250 GeV2,x<0.7 using ν and\(\bar v\) interactions on neon in BEBC. The data are used to evaluate possible higher twist contributions and to determine their impact on the evaluation of the QCD parameter Λ. In contrast to previous analyses reaching to such lowW2 values, it is found that a low\(\Lambda _{\overline {MS} } \) value in the neighbourhood of 100 MeV describes the data adequately and that the contribution of dynamical higher twist effects is small and negative.