The contributions of the PLUTO experiment to e + e − physics at collision energies in the range of 3–32 GeV are reviewed. The review briefly sketches the storage rings DORIS and PETRA at DESY, and describes the most important features of the PLUTO detector, of data processing, and of the analysis methods. It covers the physics results in the fields of electroweak interactions, of the heavy lepton τ and the search for still heavier leptons, of hadron production with evidence for quark and gluon jets, as well as for single and multiple gluon emission, of Y decays and their relation to QCD, and presents results in high-energy photon-photon interactions, including the first measurement of the photon structure function.
We present a measurement of the cross section of the process $e^+e^-\to\pi^+pi^-\psi(2S)$ from threshold up to 8 GeV center-of-mass energy using events containing initial-state radiation, produced at the PEP-II $e^+e^-$ storage rings. The study is based on 298 fb$^{-1}$ of data recorded with the BaBar detector. A structure is observed in the cross-section not far above threshold, near 4.32 GeV. We also investigate the compatibility of this structure with the Y(4260) previously reported by this experiment.
We report a measurement of the exclusive \$e^+e^- \to \Lambda_c^+ \Lambda_c^-$ cross section as a function of center-of-mass energy near the $\Lambda_c^+ \Lambda_c^-$ threshold. A clear peak with a significance of $8.8\sigma$ is observed in the $\Lambda_c^+ \Lambda_c^-$ invariant mass distribution just above threshold. With an assumption of a resonance origin for the observed peak, a mass and width of $M=(4634^{+8}_{-7} \mathrm{(stat.)} ^{+5}_{-8} \mathrm{(sys.)})\mevc$ and $\Gamma_{\mathrm{tot}}=(92^{+40}_{-24} \mathrm{(stat.)}^{+10}_{-21} \mathrm{(sys.)})\mev$ are determined. The analysis is based on a study of events with initial-state-radiation photons in a data sample collected with the Belle detector at the $\Upsilon(4S)$ resonance and nearby continuum with an integrated luminosity of 695 $\mathrm{fb}^{-1}$ at the KEKB asymmetric-energy $e^+e^_$ collider.
Measurements are presented of the inclusive charged-particle cross sections s dσdx for e+e− annihilation at center-of-mass energies of 5.2, 6.5, and 29.0 GeV. Significant scale breaking is observed in these cross sections.
Measurements of multihadron production in e+e− annihilation at center-of-mass energies between 2.6 and 7.8 GeV are presented. Aside from the narrow resonances ψ(3095) and ψ(3684), the total hadronic cross section is found to be approximately 2.7 times the cross section for the production of muon pairs at c.m. energies below 3.7 GeV and 4.3 times the muon-pair cross section at c.m. energies above 5.5 GeV. Complicated structure is found at intermediate energies. Charged-particle multiplicities and inclusive momentum distributions are presented.
The total cross section for hadron production by e+e− annihilation has been measured at center-of-mass energies between 2.4 and 5.0 GeV. Aside from the very narrow resonances ψ(3105) and ψ(3695), the cross section varies between 32 and 17 nb over this region with structure in the vicinity of 4.1 GeV.
We present measurements of the total production rates and momentum distributions of the charmed baryon $\Lambda_c^+$ in $e^+e^- \to$ hadrons at a center-of-mass energy of 10.54 GeV and in $\Upsilon(4S)$ decays. In hadronic events at 10.54 GeV, charmed hadrons are almost exclusively leading particles in $e^+e^- \to c\bar{c}$ events, allowing direct studies of $c$-quark fragmentation. We measure a momentum distribution for $\Lambda_c^+$ baryons that differs significantly from those measured previously for charmed mesons. Comparing with a number of models, we find none that can describe the distribution completely. We measure an average scaled momentum of $\left< x_p \right> = 0.574\pm$0.009 and a total rate of $N_{\Lambda c}^{q\bar{q}} = 0.057\pm$0.002(exp.)$\pm$0.015(BF) $\Lambda_c^+$ per hadronic event, where the experimental error is much smaller than that due to the branching fraction into the reconstructed decay mode, $pK^-\pi^+$. In $\Upsilon (4S)$ decays we measure a total rate of $N_{\Lambda c}^{\Upsilon} = 0.091\pm$0.006(exp.)$\pm$0.024(BF) per $\Upsilon(4S)$ decay, and find a much softer momentum distribution than expected from B decays into a $\Lambda_c^+$ plus an antinucleon and one to three pions.
First results from the magnetic detector PLUTO at the new e + e − storage ring PETRA are shown. The ratio R of the cross section for hadron production to that for μ-pair production has been measured to be R = 5.0 ± 0.5 at 13 GeV and 4.3 ±0.5 at 17 GeV. Both values have an additional systematic error of 20%. The events show a typical 2-jet structure. The mean transverse momentum approaches a constant value with increasing energy implying a shrinkage of the jet opening angle.
The cross section for e+e- to pi+ pi- psi(2S) between threshold and \sqrt{s}=5.5 GeV is measured using 673 fb^{-1} of data on and off the \Upsilon(4S) resonance collected with the Belle detector at KEKB. Two resonant structures are observed in the pi+ pi- psi(2S) invariant mass distribution, one at 4361\pm 9\pm 9 MeV/c2 with a width of 74\pm 15\pm 10 MeV/c2, and another at 4664\pm 11\pm 5 MeV/c2 with a width of 48\pm 15\pm 3 MeV/c2, if the mass spectrum is parameterized with the coherent sum of two Breit-Wigner functions. These values do not match those of any of the known charmonium states.
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