We present a study of the inclusive production of neutral pions and charged particles from 112 000 hadronic Z 0 decays. The measured inclusive momentum distributions can be reproduced by parton shower Monte Carlo programs and also by an analytical QCD calculation. Comparing our results to e + e − data between √ s = 9 and 91 GeV, we findfind that the evolution of the spectra with center of mass energy is consistent with the QCD predictions.

From 2540 Z 0 → τ + τ − events, we determine the inclusive decay branching fractions of the τ -lepton into one and three charged particles to be 0.856 ± 0.006 (stat.) ± 0.003 (syst.) and 0.144 ± 0.006 (stat.) ± 0.003 (syst.), respectively. The leptonic branching fractions are measured to be 0.175 ± 0.008 (stat.) ± 0.005 (syst.) for τ → μν μ ντ and 0.177 ± 0.007 (stat.) ± 0.006 (syst.) for τ → eν e ν τ . We determined the τ lifetime both from three-prong decays using the decay length and from one-prong decays using the impact parameter. The results from the two independent methods agree and yield a combined value of [0.309 ± 0.023 (stat.) ± 0.030 (syst.)] × 10 −12 s.

The reaction gamma p -> J/Psi p has been studied in ep interactions using the ZEUS detector at HERA. The cross section for elastic J/Psi photoproduction has been measured as a function of the photon-proton centre of mass energy W in the range 40 < W < 140 GeV at a median photon virtuality Q^2 of 5*10^{-5} GeV^2. The photoproduction cross section, sigma_{gamma p -> J/Psi p}, is observed to rise steeply with W. A fit to the data presented in this paper to determine the parameter $\delta$ in the form sigma_{gamma p -> J/Psi p} \propto W^{\delta} yields the value \delta = 0.92 \pm 0.14 \pm 0.10. The differential cross section dsigma/d|t| is presented over the range |t| < 1.0 GeV^2 where t is the square of the four-momentum exchanged at the proton vertex. d\sigma/d|t| falls exponentially with a slope parameter of 4.6 \pm 0.4 (+0.4-0.6) GeV^{-2}. The measured decay angular distributions are consistent with s-channel helicity conservation.

Diffractive dissociation of quasi-real photons at a photon-proton centre of mass energy of W 200 GeV is studied with the ZEUS detector at HERA. The process under consideration is gamma p -> X N, where X is the diffractively dissociated photon system of mass M_X and N is either a proton or a nucleonic system with mass M_N < 2GeV. The cross section for this process in the interval 3 < M_X < 24 GeV relative to the total photoproduction cross section was measured to be sigma~partial_D / sigma_tot = 6.2 +- 0.2(stat) +- 1.4(syst)%. After extrapolating this result to the mass interval of m_phi~2 < M_X~2 < 0.05 W~2 and correcting it for proton dissociation, the fraction of the total cross section attributed to single diffractive photon dissociation, gamma p -> X p, is found to be sigma_SD / sigma_tot = 13.3 +- 0.5(stat) +- 3.6(syst)%. The mass spectrum of the dissociated photon system in the interval 8 < M_X < 24 GeV can be described by the triple pomeron (PPP) diagram with an effective pomeron intercept of alpha_P(0) = 1.12 +- 0.04(stat) +- 0.08(syst). The cross section for photon dissociation in the range 3 < M_X < 8 GeV is significantly higher than that expected from the triple pomeron amplitude describing the region 8 < M_X < 24 GeV. Assuming that this discrepancy is due to a pomeron-pomeron-reggeon (PPR) term, its contribution to the diffractive cross section in the interval 3 < M_X < 24 GeV is estimated to be f_PPR = 26 +- 3(stat) +- 12(syst)%.

The production of $\phi$ mesons in the reaction $e~{+}p \rightarrow e~{+} \phi p$ ($\phi \rightarrow K~{+}K~{-}$), for $7 < Q~2 < 25$ GeV$~2$ and for virtual photon-proton centre of mass energies ($W$) in the range 42-134 GeV, has been studied with the ZEUS detector at HERA. When compared to lower energy data at similar $Q~2$, the results show that the $\gamma~*p \rightarrow \phid p$ cross section rises strongly with $W$. This behaviour is similar to that previously found for the $\gamma~*p \rightarrow \rho~0 p$ cross section. This strong dependence cannot be explained by production through soft pomeron exchange. It is, however, consistent with perturbative QCD expectations, where it reflects the rise of the gluon momentum density in the proton at small $x$. The ratio of $\sigma (\phi) / \sigma (\rho~0)$, which has previously been determined by ZEUS to be 0.065 $\pm$ 0.013 (stat.) in photoproduction at a mean $W$ of 70 GeV, is measured to be 0.18 $\pm $ 0.05 (stat.) $\pm$ 0.03 (syst.) at a mean $Q~2$ of 12.3 GeV$~2$ and mean $W$ of $\approx$ 100 GeV and is thus approaching at large $Q~2$ the value of 2/9 predicted from the quark charges of the vector mesons and a flavour independent production mechanism.

The differential cross section $d\sigma/dt$ for elastic $\rho~0$ photoproduction, $\gamma p \rightarrow \rho~0 p (\rho~0 \rightarrow \pi~+ \pi~-)$, has been measured in $ep$ interactions at HERA. The squared four-momentum exchanged at the proton vertex, $t$, has been determined directly by measuring the momentum of the scattered proton using the ZEUS Leading Proton Spectrometer (LPS), a large scale system of silicon micro-strip detectors operating close to the HERA proton beam. The LPS allows the measurement of the momentum of high energy protons scattered at small angles with accuracies of 0.4% for the longitudinal momentum and 5 MeV for the transverse momentum. Photoproduction of $\rho~0$ mesons has been investigated in the interval $0.073< |t| <0.40 GeV~2$, for photon virtualities $Q~2<1 GeV~2$ and photon-proton centre-of-mass energies $W$ between 50 and 100 GeV. In the measured range, the $t$ distribution exhibits an exponential shape with a slope parameter $b = 9.8 \pm 0.8 (stat.) \pm 1.1 (syst.) GeV~{-2}$. The use of the LPS eliminates the contamination from events with diffractive dissociation of the proton into low mass states.

The reaction $\gamma p \rightarrow \omega p$ $(\omega \rightarrow \pi~+\pi~-\pi~0$ and $\pi~0\rightarrow\gamma\gamma)$ has been studied in $ep$ interactions using the \mbox{ZEUS} detector at photon-proton centre-of-mass energies between $70$ and $90\uni{GeV}$ and $|t| < 0.6\uni{GeV}~2$, where $t$ is the squared four momentum transferred at the proton vertex. The elastic \ome photoproduction cross section has been measured to be $\sigma_{\gamma p\rightarrow \omega p} = 1.21\pm 0.12\pm 0.23 \mu\mbox{b}$. The differential cross section $d\sigma_{\gamma p\rightarrow \omega p} /d|t|$ has an exponential shape $\mbox{e}~{-b |t|}$ with a slope $b = 10.0\pm 1.2\pm 1.3\uni{GeV}~{-2}$. The angular distributions of the decay pions are consistent with {\it s}-channel helicity conservation. When compared to low energy data, the features of $\omega$ photoproduction as measured at HERA energies are in agreement with those of a soft diffractive process. Previous measurements of the $\rho~0$ and $\phi$ photoproduction cross sections at HERA show a similar behaviour.

Photon diffractive dissociation, $\gamma p \to Xp$, has been studied at HERA with the ZEUS detector using $ep$ interactions where the virtuality $Q^2$ of the exchanged photon is smaller than 0.02 GeV$^2$. The squared four-momentum $t$ exchanged at the proton vertex was determined in the range $0.073<|t|<0.40$ GeV$^2$ by measuring the scattered proton in the ZEUS Leading Proton Spectrometer. In the photon-proton centre-of-mass energy interval $176<W<225$ GeV and for masses of the dissociated photon system $4<M_X<32$ GeV, the $t$ distribution has an exponential shape, $dN/d|t| \propto \exp{(-b|t|)}$, with a slope parameter $b=6.8 \pm 0.9$~(stat.)~$ ^{+1.2}_{-1.1}$~(syst.)~GeV$^{-2}$.

Elastic and proton-dissociative rho0 photoproduction (gamma p-->rho0 p,gamma p -->rho0 N,with rho0-->pi+pi-) has been studied in ep interactions at HERA for gamma-p centre-of-mass energies in the range 50<W<100 GeV and for |t|<0.5 GeV2; the results on the p-dissociative reaction are presented for masses of the dissociated proton system in the range MN^2<0.1W^2.For the elastic process,the pi+pi- invariant mass spectrum has been investigated as a function of t. As in fixed target experiments, the rho0 resonance shape is asymmetric;this asymmetry decreases with increasing |t|.The cross section has been studied as a function of W; a fit to the resonant part with the form W^a gives a=0.16\pm0.06(stat.) +0.11-0.15(syst.). The resonant part of the gamma p-->pi+pi- p cross section is 11.2\pm 0.1(stat.)+1.1-1.2 (syst.) mub at <W>=71.7 GeV. The t dependence of the cross section can be described by a function of the type Ae^(-b|t|+ct^2) with b=10.9\pm0.3(stat.)+1.0-0.5(syst.)GeV-2 and c=2.7\pm0.9(stat.)+1.9-1.7(syst.) GeV-4. The t dependence has also been studied as a function of W and a value of the slope of the pomeron trajectory 0.23\pm0.15(stat.)+0.10-0.07(syst.)GeV-2 has been deduced. The rho spin density matrix elements r^04_00,r^04_1-1 and Re[r^04_10] have been measured and found to be consistent with expectations based on SCHC. For p-dissociative pi+pi- photoproduction in the rho0 mass range, the distributions of the two-pion invariant mass, W and the polar and azimuthal angles of the pions in the helicity frame are the same within errors as those for the elastic process. The t distribution has been fitted to an exponential function with a slope parameter 5.8\pm0.3(stat.)\pm0.5(syst.)GeV-2. The ratio of the elastic to p-dissociative rho0 photoproduction cross section is 2.0\pm0.2(stat.)\pm0.7(syst.).

Deep inelastic charged--current reactions have been studied in $e~+p$ and $e~-p$ collisions at a center of mass energy of about $300\,\gev$ in the kinematic region $Q~2\greater200\,\gev~2$ and $x\greater0.006$ using the ZEUS detector at HERA. The integrated cross sections for $Q~2\greater200\,\gev~2$ are found to be $\sigep=30.3\,{}~{+5.5}_{\mns4.2}\,{}~{+1.6}_{\mns2.6}\,{\rm pb}$ and $\sigem=54.7\,{}~{+15.9}_{\mns\chax 9.8}\,{}~{+2.8}_{\mns3.4}\,{\rm pb}$. Differential cross sections have been measured as functions of the variables $x$, $y$ and $Q~2$. From the measured differential cross sections $d\sigma/dQ~2$, the $W$ boson mass is determined to be $M_W=79\,{}~{+8} _{-7}{}~{+4}_{-4}\,\gev$. Measured jet rates and transverse energy profiles agree with model predictions. A search for charged--current interactions with a large rapidity gap yielded one candidate event, corresponding to a cross section of $\sigep(Q~2\greater200\,\gev~2;\eta_{\rm max}<2.5)=0.8\,{}_{-0.7}~ {+1.8}\,\pm0.1\,{\rm pb}$.