Cross-sections for hadronic, b-bbar and lepton pair final states in e+e- collisions at sqrt(s) = 183 GeV, measured with the OPAL detector at LEP, are presented and compared with the predictions of the Standard Model. Forward-backward asymmetries for the leptonic final states have also been measured. Cross-sections and asymmetries are also presented for data recorded in 1997 at sqrt(s) = 130 and 136 GeV. The results are used to measure the energy dependence of the electromagnetic coupling constant alpha_em, and to place limits on new physics as described by four-fermion contact interactions or by the exchange of a new heavy particle such as a leptoquark, or of a squark or sneutrino in supersymmetric theories with R-parity violation.
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The contribution of interference between initial- and final-state radiationhas been removed.
The contribution of interference between initial- and final-state radiationhas been removed.
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DATA FROM 1989 RUN. The cross section are quoted with their statistical and point-to-point systematic uncertainty of both the multihadron acceptance and the luminosity calculation.
DATA FROM 1990 RUN. The cross section are quoted with their statistical and point-to-point systematic uncertainty of both the multihadron acceptance and the luminosity calculation.
Cross sections corrected for the effects of efficiency and kinematic cuts and background. Data from 1989 run, reanalysed.
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