The production of Jψ mesons in Z0 decays is studied using 3.6 million hadronic events recorded by the OPAL detector at LEP. The inclusive Z0 to Jψ and b-quark to Jψ branching ratios are measured from the total yield of Jψ mesons, identified from their decays into lepton pairs. The Jψ momentum distribution is used to study the fragmentation of b-quarks. The production rate of ψ′ mesons, identified from their decays into a Jψ and a π+π− pair, is measured as well. The following results are obtained: ${Br(Z^{0}⌝ghtarrow {⤪ J}/ i X)=(3.9pm 0.2pm 0.3)cdot 10^{-3} {⤪ and} ↦op Br(Z^0⌝ghtarrow  i ^⌕ime X)=(1.6pm 0.3pm 0.2)cdot 10^{-3}, }$ where the first error is statistical and the second systematic. Finally the Jψ sample is used to reconstruct exclusive b-hadron decays and calculate the corresponding b-hadron branching ratios and masses.

We have studied hadronic events produced at LEP at a centre-of-mass energy of 161 GeV. We present distributions of event shape variables, jet rates, charged particle momentum spectra and multiplicities. We determine the strong coupling strength to be αs(161 GeV) = 0.101±0.005(stat.)±0.007(syst.), the mean charged particle multiplicity to be 〈nch〉(161 GeV) = 24.46 ± 0.45(stat.) ± 0.44(syst.) and the position of the peak in the ξp = ln(1/xp) distribution to be ξ0(161 GeV) = 4.00 ±0.03(stat.)±0.04(syst.). These results are compared to data taken at lower centre-of-mass energies and to analytic QCD or Monte Carlo predictions. Our measured value of αs(161 GeV) is consistent with other measurements of αs. Within the current statistical and systematic uncertainties, the PYTHIA, HERWIG and ARIADNE QCD Monte Carlo models and analytic calculations are in overall agreement with our measurements. The COJETS QCD Monte Carlo is in general agreement with the data for momentum weighted distributions like Thrust, but predicts a significantly larger charged particle multiplicity than is observed experimentally.

We employ data taken by the JADE and OPAL experiments for an integrated QCD study in hadronic e+e- annihilations at c.m.s. energies ranging from 35 GeV through 189 GeV. The study is based on jet-multiplicity related observables. The observables are obtained to high jet resolution scales with the JADE, Durham, Cambridge and cone jet finders, and compared with the predictions of various QCD and Monte Carlo models. The strong coupling strength, alpha_s, is determined at each energy by fits of O(alpha_s^2) calculations, as well as matched O(alpha_s^2) and NLLA predictions, to the data. Matching schemes are compared, and the dependence of the results on the choice of the renormalization scale is investigated. The combination of the results using matched predictions gives alpha_s(MZ)=0.1187+{0.0034}-{0.0019}. The strong coupling is also obtained, at lower precision, from O(alpha_s^2) fits of the c.m.s. energy evolution of some of the observables. A qualitative comparison is made between the data and a recent MLLA prediction for mean jet multiplicities.

The inclusive production rates and differential cross-sections of photons and mesons with a final state containing photons have been measured with the OPAL detector at LEP. The light mesons covered by the measurements are the \pi^0, \eta, \rho(770)+-, \omega(782), \eta'(958) and a_0(980)+-. The particle multiplicities per hadronic Z^0 decay, extrapolated to the full energy range, are: <n_\gamma> = 20.97 +/- 0.02 +/- 1.15, <n_\pi^0> = 9.55 +/- 0.06 +/- 0.75, <n_\eta> = 0.97 +/- 0.03 +/- 0.11, <n_\rho^+-> = 2.40 +/- 0.06 +/- 0.43, <n_\omega> = 1.04 +/- 0.04 +/- 0.14, <n_\eta> = 0.14 +/- 0.01 +/- 0.02, <n_a_0+-> = 0.27 +/- 0.04 +/- 0.10. where the first errors are statistical and the second systematic. In general, the results are in agreement with the predictions of the JETSET and HERWIG Monte Carlo models.

We compared the multiplicities of pizero, eta, Kzero and of charged particles in quark and gluon jets in 3-jet events, as measured by the OPAL experiment at LEP. The comparisons were performed for distributions unfolded to 100% pure quark and gluon jets, at an effective scale Qjet which took into account topological dependences of the 3-jet environment. The ratio of particle multiplicity in gluon jets to that in quark jets as a function of Qjet for pizero, eta and Kzero was found to be independent of the particle species. This is consistent with the QCD prediction that the observed enhancement in the mean particle rate in gluon jets with respect to quark jets should be independent of particle species. In contrast to some theoretical predictions and previous observations, we observed no evidence for an enhancement of eta meson production in gluon jets with respect to quark jets, beyond that observed for charged particles. We measured the ratio of the slope of the average charged particle multiplicity in gluon jets to that in quark jets, C, and we compared it to a next-to-next-to-next-to leading order calculation. Our result, C=2.27+-0.20(stat+syst),is about one standard deviation higher than the perturbative prediction.

We have studied the production of D*± mesons in a sample of 1.25 million multihadronic decays of the Z0, in which 1969 candidates have been identified. We have determined the total multiplicity of charged D* mesons in multihadronic Z0 decays to be

We have studied hadronic events from e+e- annihilation data at centre-of-mass energies of sqrt{s}=172, 183 and 189 GeV. The total integrated luminosity of the three samples, measured with the OPAL detector, corresponds to 250 pb^-1. We present distributions of event shape variables, charged particle multiplicity and momentum, measured separately in the three data samples. From these we extract measurements of the strong coupling alpha_s, the mean charged particle multiplicity <nch> and the peak position xi_0 in the xi_p=ln(1/x_p) distribution. In general the data are described well by analytic QCD calculations and Monte Carlo models. Our measured values of alpha_s, <nch> and xi_0 are consistent with previous determinations at sqrt{s}=MZ.

About 4.4 million hadronic decays of Z bosons, recorded by the OPAL detector at LEP at a centre-of-mass energy of around sqrt(s) = 91.2 GeV, are used to determine the mean charged particle multiplicities for the three light quark flavours. Events from primary u, d, and s quarks are tagged by selecting characteristic particles which carry a large fraction of the beam energy. The charged particle multiplicities are measured in the hemispheres opposite to these particles. An unfolding procedure is applied to obtain these multiplicities for each primary light quark flavour. This yields <n_u> = 17.77 +- 0.51 +0.86 -1.20, <n_d> = 21.44 +- 0.63 +1.46 -1.17, <n_s> = 20.02 +- 0.13 +0.39 -0.37, where statistical and systematic errors are given. The results for <n_u> and <n_d> are almost fully statistically anti-correlated. Within the errors the result is consistent with the flavour independence of the strong interaction for the particle multiplicities in events from the light up, down, and strange quarks.

Fragmentation functions for charged particles in Z -> qq(bar) events have been measured for bottom (b), charm (c) and light (uds) quarks as well as for all flavours together. The results are based on data recorded between 1990 and 1995 using the OPAL detector at LEP. Event samples with different flavour compositions were formed using reconstructed D* mesons and secondary vertices. The \xi_p = ln(1/x_E) distributions and the position of their maxima \xi_max are also presented separately for uds, c and b quark events. The fragmentation function for b quarks is significantly softer than for uds quarks.

We have measured the mean charged particle multiplicities separately for bbbar, ccbar and light quark (uubar, ddbar, ssbar) initiated events produced in e+e- annihilations at LEP. The data were recorded with the OPAL detector at eleven different energies above Z0 peak, corresponding to the full statistics collected at LPE1.5 and LEP2. The difference in mean charged and particle multiplicities for bbbar and light quark events, delta_bl, measured over this energy range is consistent with an energy independent behaviour, as predicted by QCD, but is inconsistent with the prediction of a more phenomenological approach which assumes that the multiplicity accompanying the decay of a heavy quark is independent of the quark mass itself. Our results, which can be combined into the single measurement delta_bl = 3.44+-0.40(stat)+-0.89(syst) at a luminosity weighted average centre-of mass energy of 195 GeV, are also consistent with an energy independent behaviour as extrapolated from lower energy data.