We study the processes $e^+ e^-\to K_S^0 K_L^0 \gamma$, $K_S^0 K_L^0 \pi^+\pi^-\gamma$, $K_S^0 K_S^0 \pi^+\pi^-\gamma$, and $K_S^0 K_S^0 K^+K^-\gamma$, where the photon is radiated from the initial state, providing cross section measurements for the hadronic states over a continuum of center-of-mass energies. The results are based on 469 fb$^{-1}$ of data collected with the BaBar detector at SLAC. We observe the $\phi(1020)$ resonance in the $K_S^0 K_L^0$ final state and measure the product of its electronic width and branching fraction with about 3% uncertainty. We present a measurement of the $e^+ e^-\to K_S^0 K_L^0 $ cross section in the energy range from 1.06 to 2.2 GeV and observe the production of a resonance at 1.67 GeV. We present the first measurements of the $e^+ e^-\to K_S^0 K_L^0 \pi^+\pi^-$, $K_S^0 K_S^0 \pi^+\pi^-$, and $K_S^0 K_S^0 K^+K^-$ cross sections, and study the intermediate resonance structures. We obtain the first observations of \jpsi decay to the $K_S^0 K_L^0 \pi^+\pi^-$, $K_S^0 K_S^0 \pi^+\pi^-$, and $K_S^0 K_S^0 K^+K^-$ final states.

Measurements of the tau lepton polarization and forward-backward polarization asymmetry near the Z resonance using the OPAL detector are described. The measurements are based on analyses of tau -> e nu_e nu_tau, tau -> mu nu_mu nu_tau, tau -> pi nu_tau, tau -> rho nu_tau and tau -> a1 nu_tau decays from a sample of 144810 e+e- -> tau+ tau- candidates corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 151 pb-1. Assuming that the tau lepton decays according to V-A theory, we measure the average tau polarization near Ecm = MZ to be <Ptau> = (-14.10 +/- 0.73 +/- 0.55)% and the tau polarization forward-backward asymmetry to be Afb = (-10.55 +/- 0.76 +/- 0.25)%, where the first error is statistical and the second systematic. Taking into account the small effects of the photon propagator, photon-Z interference and photonic radiative corrections, these results can be expressed in terms of the lepton neutral current asymmetry parameters: Atau = 0.1456 +/- 0.0076 +/- 0.0057, Ae = 0.1454 +/- 0.0108 +/- 0.0036. These measurements are consistent with the hypothesis of lepton universality and combine to give Al = 0.1455 +/- 0.0073. Within the context of the Standard Model this combined result corresponds to sin^2(theta)(lept,effective) = 0.23172 +/- 0.00092. Combing these results with those from the other OPAL neutral current measurements yields a value of sin^2(theta)(lept,effective) = 0.23211 +/- 0.00068.

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.

We present measurements of the inclusive production of antideuterons in $e^+e^-$ annihilation into hadrons at $\approx 10.58 \mathrm{\,Ge\kern -0.1em V}$ center-of-mass energy and in $\Upsilon(1S,2S,3S)$ decays. The results are obtained using data collected by the BABAR detector at the PEP-II electron-positron collider. Assuming a fireball spectral shape for the emitted antideuteron momentum, we find $\mathcal{B}(\Upsilon(1S) \to \bar{d}X) = (2.81 \pm 0.49 \mathrm{(stat)} {}^{+0.20}_{-0.24} \mathrm{(syst)})/! \times /! 10^{-5}$, $\mathcal{B}(\Upsilon(2S) \to \bar{d}X) = (2.64 \pm 0.11 \mathrm{(stat)} {}^{+0.26}_{-0.21} \mathrm{(syst)})/! \times /! 10^{-5}$, $\mathcal{B}(\Upsilon(3S) \to \bar{d}X) = (2.33 \pm 0.15 \mathrm{(stat)} {}^{+0.31}_{-0.28} \mathrm{(syst)})/! \times /! 10^{-5}$, and $\sigma (e^+e^- \to \bar{d}X) = (9.63 \pm 0.41 \mathrm{(stat)} {}^{+1.17}_{-1.01} \mathrm{(syst)}) \mbox{\,fb}$.

The inclusive production cross sections and transverse momentum distributions of K*0 and KS0 mesons in e+e− annihilation at a center-of-mass energy of 29 GeV have been measured by means of the time projection chamber detector in the PEP-4 experiment. The mean multiplicites are found to be 0.49 ± 0.04(stat.) ± 0.07(syst.) (K*0+K―*0) and 1.22 ± 0.03(stat.) ±0.15(syst.) (K0+K―0) per event.

We study the processes e+e- --> K+ K- pi+pi-gamma, K+ K- pi0pi0gamma, and K+ K- K+ K-gamma, where the photon is radiated from the initial state. About 84000, 8000, and 4200 fully reconstructed events, respectively, are selected from 454 fb-1 of BaBar data. The invariant mass of the hadronic final state defines the \epem center-of-mass energy, so that the K+ K- pi+pi- data can be compared with direct measurements of the e+e- --> K+ K- pi+pi- reaction. No direct measurements exist for the e+e- --> K+ K-pi0pi0 or e+e- --> K+ K-K+ K- reactions, and we present an update of our previous result with doubled statistics. Studying the structure of these events, we find contributions from a number of intermediate states, and extract their cross sections. In particular, we perform a more detailed study of the e+e- --> phi(1020)pipigamma reaction, and confirm the presence of the Y(2175) resonance in the phi(1020) f0(980) and K+K-f0(980) modes. In the charmonium region, we observe the J/psi in all three final states and in several intermediate states, as well as the psi(2S) in some modes, and measure the corresponding product of branching fraction and electron width.

Inclusive production cross sections of $\pi^\pm$, $K^\pm$ and $p\bar{p}$ per hadronic $e^+e^-$ annihilation event in $e^+e^-$ are measured at a center-of-mass energy of 10.54 GeV, using a relatively small sample of very high quality data from the BaBar experiment at the PEP-II $B$-factory at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. The drift chamber and Cherenkov detector provide clean samples of identified $\pi^\pm$, $K^\pm$ and $p\bar{p}$ over a wide range of momenta. Since the center-of-mass energy is below the threshold to produce a $B\bar{B}$ pair, with $B$ a bottom-quark meson, these data represent a pure $e^+e^- \rightarrow q\bar{q}$ sample with four quark flavors, and are used to test QCD predictions and hadronization models. Combined with measurements at other energies, in particular at the $Z^0$ resonance, they also provide precise constraints on the scaling properties of the hadronization process over a wide energy range.

The process e+e- --> p anti-p gamma is studied using 469 fb-1 of integrated luminosity collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II collider, at an e+e- center-of-mass energy of 10.6 GeV. From the analysis of the p anti-p invariant mass spectrum, the energy dependence of the cross section for e+e- --> p anti-p is measured from threshold to 4.5 GeV. The energy dependence of the ratio of electric and magnetic form factors, |G_E/G_M|, and the asymmetry in the proton angular distribution are measured for p anti-p masses below 3 GeV. We also measure the branching fractions for the decays J/psi --> p anti-p and psi(2S) --> p anti p.

We present measurements of Collins asymmetries in the inclusive process $e^+e^- \rightarrow h_1 h_2 X$, $h_1h_2=KK,\, K\pi,\, \pi\pi$, at the center-of-mass energy of 10.6 GeV, using a data sample of 468 fb$^{-1}$ collected by the BaBar experiment at the PEP-II $B$ factory at SLAC National Accelerator Center. Considering hadrons in opposite thrust hemispheres of hadronic events, we observe clear azimuthal asymmetries in the ratio of unlike- to like-sign, and unlike- to all charged $h_1 h_2$ pairs, which increase with hadron energies. The $K\pi$ asymmetries are similar to those measured for the $\pi\pi$ pairs, whereas those measured for high-energy $KK$ pairs are, in general, larger.

The $e^+e^-\to K^+K^-$ cross section and charged-kaon electromagnetic form factor are measured in the $e^+e^-$ center-of-mass energy range ($E$) from 2.6 to 8.0 GeV using the initial-state radiation technique with an undetected photon. The study is performed using 469 fb$^{-1}$ of data collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II $e^+e^-$ collider at center-of-mass energies near 10.6 GeV. The form factor is found to decrease with energy faster than $1/E^2$, and approaches the asymptotic QCD prediction. Production of the $K^+K^-$ final state through the $J/\psi$ and $\psi(2S)$ intermediate states is observed. The results for the kaon form factor are used together with data from other experiments to perform a model-independent determination of the relative phases between single-photon and strong amplitudes in $J/\psi$ and $\psi(2S)\to K^+K^-$ decays. The values of the branching fractions measured in the reaction $e^+e^- \to K^+K^-$ are shifted relative to their true values due to interference between resonant and nonresonant amplitudes. The values of these shifts are determined to be about $\pm5\%$ for the $J/\psi$ meson and $\pm15\%$ for the $\psi(2S)$ meson.

We study the processes $\gamma \gamma \to K^0_S K^{\pm}\pi^{\mp}$ and $\gamma \gamma \to K^+ K^- \pi^0$ using a data sample of 519~$fb^{-1}$ recorded with the BaBar detector operating at the SLAC PEP-II asymmetric-energy $e^+ e^-$ collider at center-of-mass energies at and near the $\Upsilon(nS)$ ($n = 2,3,4$) resonances. We observe $\eta_c$ decays to both final states and perform Dalitz plot analyses using a model-independent partial wave analysis technique. This allows a model-independent measurement of the mass-dependence of the $I=1/2$ $K \pi$ $\mathcal{S}$-wave amplitude and phase. A comparison between the present measurement and those from previous experiments indicates similar behaviour for the phase up to a mass of 1.5 $GeV/c^2$. In contrast, the amplitudes show very marked differences. The data require the presence of a new $a_0(1950)$ resonance with parameters $m=1931 \pm 14 \pm 22 \ MeV/c^2$ and $\Gamma=271 \pm 22 \pm 29 \ MeV$.

Inclusive production cross sections for photons and π0's ine+e− annihilation at a center of mass energy of 29 GeV have been measured. The π0 production spectrum agrees with a corresponding measurement for π±. The ratio of the π0 inclusive rate to the average for π± is 0.92±0.14. The fractions of the total energy carried by photons and π0's are 0.244±0.016 and 0.217±0.033, respectively. The fraction of total energy carried by all stable hadrons, prompt leptons and photons is determined to be 0.938±0.045, leaving 0.062±0.045 for neutrinos.

The production of charmed D* mesons in e+e− annihilations at a center-of-mass energy of 29 GeV has been studied using the time-projection-chamber (TPC) detector at the SLAC storage ring PEP. The production cross section, fragmentation function, and forward-backward asymmetry due to electroweak effects are measured, and a limit on D0-D¯0 mixing is determined.

We report measurements of the two-photon processes e+e−→e+e−π+π− and e+e−→e+e−K+K−, at an e+e− center-of-mass energy of 29 GeV. In the π+π− data a high-statistics analysis of the f(1270) results in a γγ width Γ(γγ→f)=3.2±0.4 keV. The π+π− continuum below the f mass is well described by a QED Born approximation, whereas above the f mass it is consistent with a QCD-model calculation if a large contribution from the f is assumed. For the K+K− data we find agreement of the high-mass continuum with the QCD prediction; limits on f′(1520) and θ(1720) formation are presented.

Production of φ mesons in e+e− annihilation at a center-of-mass energy of 29 GeV has been observed with the time-projection chamber detector at the PEP storage ring. The φ production rate has been measured in the energy range 0.075<x<0.55 (x=2Eφs), giving 0.077±0.012(stat)±0.016(syst) φ's per event. The average value of pt2 relative to the thrust axis is 1.0±0.4 (GeV/c)2.

We report e+e- --> b anti-b cross section measurements by the BABAR experiment performed during an energy scan in the range of 10.54 to 11.20 GeV at the PEP-II e+e- collider. A total relative error of about 5% is reached in more than three hundred center-of-mass energy steps, separated by about 5 MeV. These measurements can be used to derive precise information on the parameters of the Y(10860) and Y(11020) resonances. In particular we show that their widths may be smaller than previously measured.

Measurements are presented of the inclusive cross section for K ∗ (892) ± production in hadronic decays of the Z 0 using a sample of about half a million events recorded with the OPAL experiment at LEP. Charged K ∗ mesons are reconstructed in the decay channel K 0 S π ± . A mean rate of 0.72±0.02±0.08 K ∗ mesons per hadronic event is found. Comparison of the results with predictions of the JETSET and HERWIG models shows that JETSET overestimates the K ∗± production cross section while HERWIG is consistent with the data.

The multiplicities per event of π ± and K ± are measured separately for e + e - annihilation into c c , b b , and light quark pairs at E cm=29 GeV. The K ± multiplicity is higher for heavy quark events than for light quark events. The π ± multiplicity and the π ± scaled differential cross section at low x = E beam/ E beam are found to be higher for b b events than for other events.

We present an analysis of multiplicity distributions of charged particles produced inZ0 hadronic decays. The results are based on the analysis of 82941 events collected within 100 MeV of theZ0 peak energy with the OPAL detector at LEP. The charged particle multiplicity distribution, corrected for initial-state radiation and for detector acceptance and resolution, was found to have a mean 〈nch〉=21.40±0.02(stat.)±0.43(syst.) and a dispersionD=6.49±0.02(stat.)±0.20(syst.). The shape is well described by the Lognormal and Gamma distributions. A negative binomial parameterisation was found to describe the shape of the multiplicity distribution less well. A comparison with results obtained at lower energies confirms the validity of KNO(-G) scaling up to LEP energies. A separate analysis of events with low sphericity, typically associated with two-jet final states, shows the presence of features expected for models based on a stochastic production mechanism for particles. In all cases, the features observed in the data are well described by the Lund parton shower model JETSET.

Inclusive jet production (e+e- -> e+e- +jet+X) is studied in collisions of quasi-real photons radiated by the LEP beams at e+e- centre-of-mass energies sqrt see from 189 to 209 GeV. Jets are reconstructed using the kp jet algorithm. The inclusive differential cross-section is measured as a function of the jet transverse momentum, ptjet, in the range 5 <ptjet < 40 GeV for pseudo-rapidities, etaj, in the range -1.5 < etaj < 1.5. The results are compared to predictions of perturbative QCD in next-to-leading order in the strong coupling constant.

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.

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

Measurements of helicity density matrix elements have been made for the φ(1020), D*± and B* vector mesons in multihadronic Z0 decays in the OPAL experiment at LEP. Results for inclusive φ produced with high energy show evidence for production preferentially in the helicity zero state, with ρ00 = 0.54 ± 0.08, compared to the value of 1/3 expected for no spin alignment. The corresponding element for the D*± has a value of 0.40 ± 0.02, also suggesting a deviation from 1/3. The B* result, with ρ00 = 0.36 ± 0.09, is consistent with no spin alignment. Off-diagonal elements have been measured for the f and D* mesons; for the D* the element Re ρ1−1 is non-zero, indicating non-independent fragmentation of the primary quarks.

The production rates of the $J_{P}={1⩈er 2}^{+}$ octet Σ baryons in hadronic Z0 decays have been measured using the OPAL detector at LEP. The inclusive production rates per hadronic Z0 decay of the three isospin states (including the respective antiparticle) have been separately measured for the first time: $άtrix {n_{Sigma^{+}}=0.099pm 0.008pm 0.013ŗ n_{Sigma^{0}}=0.071pm 0.012pm 0.013ŗ n_{Sigma^{-}}=0.083pm 0.006pm 0.009ŗ}$ where the first error is statistical and the second is systematic. Differential cross-sections are also presented for the Σ+ and Σ− and compared with JETSET and HERWIG predictions. Assuming full isospin symmetry, the average inclusive rate is: ${1⩈er 3}[n_{Sigma^{+}+Sigma^{0}+Sigma^{-}}]=0.084pm 0.005 ({⤪ stat.}) pm 0.008 ({⤪ syst.})$.

The production of neutral kaons in e+e− annihilation at centre-of-mass energies in the region of the Z0 mass and their Bose-Einstein correlations are investigated with the OPAL detector at LEP. A total of about 1.26×106 Z0 hadronic decay events are used in the analysis. The production rate of K0 mesons is found to be 1.99±0.01±0.04 per hadronic event, where the first error is statistical and the second systematic. Both the rate and the differential cross section for K0 production are compared to the predictions of Monte Carlo generators. This comparison indicates that the fragmentation is too soft in bothJetset andHerwig. Bose-Einstein correlations in Ks0Ks0 pairs are measured through the quantityQ, the four momentum difference of the pair. A threshold enhancement is observed in Ks0Ks0 pairs originating from a mixed sample of\(K^0 \bar K^0\) and K0K0 (\(\bar K^0 \bar K^0\)) pairs. For the strength of the effect and for the radius of the emitting source we find values of λ=1.14±0.23±0.32 andR0=(0.76±0.10±0.11) fm respectively. The first error is statistical and the second systematic.