The reactions gamma gamma -> pi^+pi^-pi^+pi^- and gamma gamma -> pi^+pi^0pi^-pi^0 are studied with the L3 detector at LEP in a data sample collected at centre-of-mass energies from 161GeV to 209GeV with a total integrated luminosity of 698/pb. A spin-parity-helicity analysis of the rho^0 rho^0 and rho^+ rho^- systems for two-photon centre-of-mass energies between 1GeV and 3GeV shows the dominance of the spin-parity state 2+ with helicity 2. The contribution of 0+ and 0- spin-parity states is also observed, whereas contributions of 2- states and of a state with spin-parity 2+ and zero helicity are found to be negligible.
We report on measurements of the triple-gauge-boson couplings of the W boson in e+e- collisions with the L3 detector at LEP. W-pair, single-W and single-photon events are analysed in a data sample corresponding to a total luminosity of 76.7 pb^{-1} collected at centre-of-mass energies between 161 GeV and 183 GeV. CP-conserving as well as both C- and P-conserving triple-gauge-boson couplings are determined. The results, in good agreement with the Standard-Model expectations, confirm the existence of the self coupling among the electroweak gauge bosons and constrain its structure.
We have measured the cross-section of the production of single photon events in e + e − collisions near the Z 0 resonance. For an integrated luminosity of 9.6 pb −1 , we have observed 202 single photon candidates with energy between 0.9 and 3.5 GeV in the polar angular region between 45° and 135°. Assuming that the only stable weakly interacting particles are light neutrinos with standard model couplings, we determine the number of light neutrino species to be N v = 3.14 ± 0.24 (stat.)±0.12 (syst.). This corresponds to an invisible Z 0 width of Γ inv = 524 ± 40 ± 20 MeV.
Single W boson production in electron-positron collisions is studied with the L3 detector at LEP. The data sample collected at a centre-of-mass energy of \sqrt{s} = 188.7GeV corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 176.4pb^-1. Events with a single energetic lepton or two acoplanar hadronic jets are selected. Within phase-space cuts, the total cross-section is measured to be 0.53 +/- 0.12 +/- 0.03 pb, consistent with the Standard Model expectation. Including our single W boson results obtained at lower \sqrt{s}, the WWgamma gauge couplings kappa_gamma and lambda_gamma are determined to be kappa_gamma = 0.93 +/- 0.16 +/- 0.09 and lambda_gamma = -0.31 +0.68 -0.19 +/- 0.13.
We report on measurements of hadronic and leptonic cross sections and leptonic forward-backward asymmetries performed with the L3 detector in the years 1993-95. A total luminosity of 103 pb^-1 was collected at centre-of-mass energies \sqrt{s} ~ m_Z and \sqrt{s} ~ m_Z +/- 1.8 GeV which corresponds to 2.5 million hadronic and 245 thousand leptonic events selected. These data lead to a significantly improved determination of Z parameters. From the total cross sections, combined with our measurements in 1990-92, we obtain the final results: m_Z = 91189.8 +/- 3.1 MeV, Gamma_Z = 2502.4 +/- 4.2 MeV, Gamma_had = 1741.1 +/- 3.8 MeV, Gamma_l = 84.14 +/- 0.17 MeV. An invisible width of Gamma_inv = 499.1 +/- 2.9 MeV is derived which in the Standard Model yields for the number of light neutrino species N_nu = 2.978 +/- 0.014. Adding our results on the leptonic forward-backward asymmetries and the tau polarisation, the effective vector and axial-vector coupling constants of the neutral weak current to charged leptons are determined to be \bar{g}_V^l = -0.0397 +/- 0.0017 and \bar{g}_A^l = -0.50153 +/- 0.00053.Including our measurements of the Z -> b \bar{b} forward-backward and quark charge asymmetries a value for the effective electroweak mixing angle of sin^2\bar{\theta}_W = 0.23093 +/- 0.00066 is derived. All these measurements are in good agreement with the Standard Model of electroweak interactions. Using all our measurements of electroweak observables an upper limit on the mass of the Standard Model Higgs boson of m_H < 133 GeV is set at 95% confidence level.
Forward-Backward Asymmetries of e+ e- production from the 1995 data in the fiducial volume THETA from 44 to 136 degrees and including an acollinearity cut of PSI < 25 degrees. The errors are statistical only and there is an additional correlated absolute error of 0.0025 to be added. The right most column is the s-channel contribution in the full solid angle.
We report on the measurement of the leptonic and hadronic cross sections and leptonic forward-backward asymmetries at theZ peak with the L3 detector at LEP. The total luminosity of 40.8 pb−1 collected
Results from 1990 data. Additional systematic uncertainty of 0.004.. Both leptons inside the angle range 44 to 136 degrees with acollinearity cut of <25 degrees.
In this Report, QCD results obtained from a study of hadronic event structure in high energy e^+e^- interactions with the L3 detector are presented. The operation of the LEP collider at many different collision energies from 91 GeV to 209 GeV offers a unique opportunity to test QCD by measuring the energy dependence of different observables. The main results concern the measurement of the strong coupling constant, \alpha_s, from hadronic event shapes and the study of effects of soft gluon coherence through charged particle multiplicity and momentum distributions.
Differential distributions for event thrust.