We present the first measurement of the inclusive three-jet differential cross section as a function of the invariant mass of the three jets with the largest transverse momenta in an event in p anti-p collisions at sqrt(s) = 1.96 TeV. The measurement is made in different rapidity regions and for different jet transverse momentum requirements and is based on a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 0.7 fb^{-1} collected with the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. The results are used to test the three-jet matrix elements in perturbative QCD calculations at next-to-leading order in the strong coupling constant. The data allow discrimination between parametrizations of the parton distribution functions of the proton.

We present a new measurement of the Z/gamma* transverse momentum distribution in the range 0 - 330GeV, in proton-antiproton collisions at sqrt{s}=1.96 TeV. The measurement uses 0.97 fb-1 of integrated luminosity recorded by the D0 experiment and is the first using the Z/gamma*->mu+mu- + X channel at this center-of-mass energy. This is also the first measurement of the Z/gamma* transverse momentum distribution that presents the result at the level of particles entering the detector, minimizing dependence on theoretical models. As any momentum of the Z/gamma* in the plane transverse to the incoming beams must be balanced by some recoiling system, primarily the result of QCD radiation in the initial state, this variable is an excellent probe of the underlying process. Tests of the predictions of QCD calculations and current event generators show they have varied success in describing the data. Using this measurement as an input to theoretical predictions will allow for a better description of hadron collider data and hence it will increase experimental sensitivity to rare signals.

Using 7.3 pb-1 of ppbar collisions collected by the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron, we measure the distribution of the variable \phistar, which probes the same physical effects as the Z/gamma* boson transverse momentum, but is less susceptible to the effects of experimental resolution and efficiency. A QCD prediction is found to describe the general features of the \phistar distribution, but is unable to describe its detailed shape or dependence on boson rapidity. A prediction that includes a broadening of transverse momentum for small values of the parton momentum fraction is strongly disfavored.

We present the first measurements at a hadron collider of differential cross sections for Z+jet+X production in delta phi(Z, jet), |delta y(Z, jet)| and |y_boost(Z, jet)|. Vector boson production in association with jets is an excellent probe of QCD and constitutes the main background to many small cross section processes, such as associated Higgs production. These measurements are crucial tests of the predictions of perturbative QCD and current event generators, which have varied success in describing the data. Using these measurements as inputs in tuning event generators will increase the experimental sensitivity to rare signals.

We present a measurement of the distribution of the variable $\phi^*_\eta$ for muon pairs with masses between 30 and 500 GeV, using the complete Run II data set collected by the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron proton-antiproton collider. This corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 10.4 fb$^{-1}$ at $\sqrt{s}$ = 1.96 TeV. The data are corrected for detector effects and presented in bins of dimuon rapidity and mass. The variable $\phi^*_\eta$ probes the same physical effects as the $Z/\gamma^*$ boson transverse momentum, but is less susceptible to the effects of experimental resolution and efficiency. These are the first measurements at any collider of the $\phi^*_\eta$ distributions for dilepton masses away from the $Z\rightarrow \ell^+\ell^-$ boson mass peak. The data are compared to QCD predictions based on the resummation of multiple soft gluons.

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.

Di-jet producion is studied in collisions of quasi-real photons at e+e- centre- of-mass energies sqrt(s)ee from 189 to 209 GeV at LEP. The data were collected with the OPAL detector. Jets are reconstructed using an inclusive k_t clustering algorithm for all cross-section measurements presented. A cone jet algorithm is used in addition to study the different structure of the jets resulting from either of the algorithms. The inclusive di-jet cross-section is measured as a function of the mean transverse energy Etm(jet) of the two leading jets, and as a functiuon of the estimated fraction of the photon momentum carried by the parton entering the hard sub-process, xg, for different regions of Etm (jet). Angular distribution in di-jet events are measured and used to demonstrate the dominance of quark and gluon initiated processes in different regions of phase space. Furthermore the inclusive di-jet cross-section as a function of |eta(jet)| and |delta eta (jet)| is presented where eta(jet) is the jet pseudo-rapidity. Different regions of the xg+ -xg- -space are explored to study and control the influence of an underlying event. The results are compared to next-to-leading order perturbative QCD calculations and to the predictions of the leading order Monte Carlo generator PYTHIA.

We study the processes $e^+ e^-\to 2(\pi^+\pi^-)\pi^0\gamma$, $2(\pi^+\pi^-)\eta\gamma$, $K^+ K^-\pi^+\pi^-\pi^0\gamma$ and $K^+ K^-\pi^+\pi^-\eta\gamma$ with the hard photon radiated from the initial state. About 20000, 4300, 5500 and 375 fully reconstructed events, respectively, are selected from 232 fb$^{-1}$ of BaBar data. The invariant mass of the hadronic final state defines the effective $e^+ e^-$ center-of-mass energy, so that the obtained cross sections from the threshold to about 5 GeV can be compared with corresponding direct \epem measurements, currently available only for the $\eta\pi^+\pi^-$ and $\omega\pi^+\pi^-$ submodes of the $e^+ e^-\to 2(\pi^+\pi^-)\pi^0$ channel. Studying the structure of these events, we find contributions from a number of intermediate states, and we extract their cross sections where possible. In particular, we isolate the contribution from $e^+ e^-\to\omega(782)\pi^+\pi^-$ and study the $\omega(1420)$ and $\omega(1650)$ resonances. In the charmonium region, we observe the $J/\psi$ in all these final states and several intermediate states, as well as the $\psi(2S)$ in some modes, and we measure the corresponding branching fractions.

We study the processes $e^+ e^-\to K^+ K^- \pi^+\pi^-\gamma$, $K^+K^-\pi^0\pi^0\gamma$ and $K^+ K^- K^+ K^-\gamma$, where the photon is radiated from the initial state. About 34600, 4400 and 2300 fully reconstructed events, respectively, are selected from 232 \invfb of \babar data. The invariant mass of the hadronic final state defines the effective \epem center-of-mass energy, so that the $K^+ K^- \pi^+\pi^-\gamma$ data can be compared with direct measurements of the $e^+ e^-\to K^+K^- \pipi$ reaction/ no direct measurements exist for the $e^+ e^-\to K^+ K^- \pi^0\pi^0$ or $\epem\to K^+ K^- K^+ K^-$ reactions. Studying the structure of these events, we find contributions from a number of intermediate states, and we extract their cross sections where possible. In particular, we isolate the contribution from $e^+ e^-\to\phi(1020) f_{0}(980)$ and study its structure near threshold. In the charmonium region, we observe the $J/\psi$ in all three final states and several intermediate states, as well as the $\psi(2S)$ in some modes, and measure the corresponding branching fractions. We see no signal for the Y(4260) and obtain an upper limit of $\BR_{Y(4260)\to\phi\pi^+\pi^-}\cdot\Gamma^{Y}_{ee}<0.4 \ev$ at 90% C.L.

This paper reports measurements of processes: e+e- -> gamma KsK+pi-, e+e- -> gamma K+K-pi0, e+e- -> gamma phi eta, and e+e- -> gamma phi pi0. The initial state radiated photon allows to cover the hadronic final state in the energy range from thresholds up to ~4.6 GeV. The overall size of the data sample analyzed is 232 fb-1, collected by the BaBar detector running at the PEP-II e+e- storage ring. From the Dalitz plot analysis of the KsK+pi- final state, moduli and relative phase of the isoscalar and the isovector components of the e+e- -> K K*(892) cross section are determined. Parameters of phi and rho recurrences are also measured, using a global fitting procedure which exploits the interconnection among amplitudes, moduli and phases of the e+e- -> KsK+pi-, K+K-pi0, phi eta final states. The cross section for the OZI-forbidden process e+e- -> phi pi0, and the J/psi branching fractions to KK*(892) and K+K-eta are also measured.

We have observed decays of the ϒ(1S) into hadronic final states containing high-energy photons. These are interpreted as coming from the decay ϒ(1S)→γ+gluon+gluon. We compare the shape of the observed photon energy spectrum with several theoretical predictions and deduce the value of the strong-coupling constant αs and the QCD scale parameter ΛMS― (MS― denotes the modified minimal-subtraction scheme) associated with each prediction.

We study the process $e^+e^-\to\pi^+\pi^-\pi^+\pi^-\gamma$, with a hard photon radiated from the initial state. About 60,000 fully reconstructed events have been selected from 89 $fb^{-1}$ of BaBar data. The invariant mass of the hadronic final state defines the effective \epem center-of-mass energy, so that these data can be compared with the corresponding direct $e^+e^-$ measurements. From the $4\pi$-mass spectrum, the cross section for the process $e^+e^-\to\pi^+\pi^-\pi^+\pi^-$ is measured for center-of-mass energies from 0.6 to 4.5 $GeV/c^2$. The uncertainty in the cross section measurement is typically 5%. We also measure the cross sections for the final states $K^+ K^- \pi^+\pi^-$ and $K^+ K^- K^+ K^-$. We observe the $J/\psi$ in all three final states and measure the corresponding branching fractions. We search for X(3872) in $J/\psi (\to\mu^+\mu^-) \pi^+\pi^-$ and obtain an upper limit on the product of the $e^+e^-$ width of the X(3872) and the branching fraction for $X(3872) \to J/\psi\pi^+\pi^-$.

We report a study of the processes e+e- -> eta gamma and e+e- -> etaprime gamma at a center-of-mass energy of 10.58 GeV, using a 232 fb^-1 data sample collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II collider at SLAC. We observe 20+6-5 eta gamma and 50+8-7 etaprime gamma events over small backgrounds, and measure the cross sections sigma(e+e- -> eta gamma) =4.5+1.2-1.1(stat)+-0.3(sys) fb and sigma(e+e- -> etaprime gamma)=5.4+-0.8(stat)+-0.3(sys) fb. The corresponding transition form factors at q^2 = 112 GeV^2 are q^2|F_eta(q^2)|=0.229+-0.030+-0.008 GeV, and q^2|F_etaprime(q^2)|=0.251+-0.019+-0.008 GeV, respectively.

We report a measurement of the production of antideuterons d in e + e − annihilation at centre-of-mass energies around 10 GeV using the ARGUS detector at the DORIS II storage ring. We observe an enhancement of d production in direct hadronic ϒ (1S) and ϒ (2S) resonance decays. From 21 events width a d candidate the inclusive cross section 1 σ dir had · d σ d p and the production rate of antideuterons are determined. A production rate of (6.0±2.0±0.6) × 10 -5 d per direct hadronic ϒ decay and a 90% CL upper limit of 1.7 × 10 −5 d per e + e − →q q continuum event are obtained. These results are related to antiproton production through a simple model.

We report on the first observation of Δ(1232) ++ and Δ(1232)++¯ baryons in e + e − annihilation at energies around 10 GeV, using the ARGUS detector at DORIS II. The sum of the rates of Δ ++ and Δ++¯ per hadronic event in the continuum is measured to be 0.040±0.008±0.006, and the rate in direct ϒ(1S) decays is 0.124±0.016±0.015. The momentum spectrum of Δ ++ baryons in direct ϒ(1S) decays has been measured.

Using the ARGUS detector at the DORIS II storage ring at DESY, we have observed a charmed meson of mass (2455±3±5) MeV/c2, decaying to D + π − . The natural width of this state is determined to be (15 +13+5 −10−10 ) MeV c 2 . The fragmentation function is hard, as expected for a leading charmed particle from nonresonant e + e − annihilation. Analysis of the decay angular distribution supports the hypothesis that the observed state is an L =1 excited charmed meson with spin-parity 2 + .

We present the first experimental results based on the jet boost algorithm, a technique to select unbiased samples of gluon jets in e+e- annihilations, i.e. gluon jets free of biases introduced by event selection or jet finding criteria. Our results are derived from hadronic Z0 decays observed with the OPAL detector at the LEP e+e- collider at CERN. First, we test the boost algorithm through studies with Herwig Monte Carlo events and find that it provides accurate measurements of the charged particle multiplicity distributions of unbiased gluon jets for jet energies larger than about 5 GeV, and of the jet particle energy spectra (fragmentation functions) for jet energies larger than about 14 GeV. Second, we apply the boost algorithm to our data to derive unbiased measurements of the gluon jet multiplicity distribution for energies between about 5 and 18 GeV, and of the gluon jet fragmentation function at 14 and 18 GeV. In conjunction with our earlier results at 40 GeV, we then test QCD calculations for the energy evolution of the distributions, specifically the mean and first two non-trivial normalized factorial moments of the multiplicity distribution, and the fragmentation function. The theoretical results are found to be in global agreement with the data, although the factorial moments are not well described for jet energies below about 14 GeV.

We study charged particle production in proton-antiproton collisions at 300 GeV, 900 GeV, and 1.96 TeV. We use the direction of the charged particle with the largest transverse momentum in each event to define three regions of eta-phi space; toward, away, and transverse. The average number and the average scalar pT sum of charged particles in the transverse region are sensitive to the modeling of the underlying event. The transverse region is divided into a MAX and MIN transverse region, which helps separate the hard component (initial and final-state radiation) from the beam-beam remnant and multiple parton interaction components of the scattering. The center-of-mass energy dependence of the various components of the event are studied in detail. The data presented here can be used to constrain and improve QCD Monte Carlo models, resulting in more precise predictions at the LHC energies of 13 and 14 TeV.

Flavour inclusive, udsc and b fragmentation functions in unbiased jets, and flavour inclusive, udsc, b and gluon fragmentation functions in biased jets are measured in e+e- annihilations from data collected at centre-of-mass energies of 91.2, and 183-209 GeV with the OPAL detector at LEP. The unbiased jets are defined by hemispheres of inclusive hadronic events, while the biased jet measurements are based on three-jet events selected with jet algorithms. Several methods are employed to extract the fragmentation functions over a wide range of scales. Possible biases are studied in the results are obtained. The fragmentation functions are compared to results from lower energy e+e- experiments and with earlier LEP measurements and are found to be consistent. Scaling violations are observed and are found to be stronger for the fragmentation functions of gluon jets than for those of quarks. The measured fragmentation functions are compared to three recent theoretical next-to-leading order calculations and to the predictions of three Monte Carlo event generators. While the Monte Carlo models are in good agreement with the data, the theoretical predictions fail to describe the full set of results, in particular the b and gluon jet measurements.

A precise measurement of the ratio R of the total cross section e+e−→hadrons to the pointlike cross section e+e−→μ+μ− at a center-of-mass energy of 29.0 GeV is presented. The data were taken with the upgraded Mark II detector at the SLAC storage ring PEP. The result is R=3.92±0.05±0.09. The luminosity has been determined with three independent luminosity monitors measuring Bhabha scattering at different angular intervals. Recent calculations of higher-order QED radiative corrections are used to estimate the systematic error due to missing higher-order radiative corrections in the Monte Carlo event generators.

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.

A search for charmonium and other new states is performed in a study of exclusive initial-state-radiation production of D Dbar events from electron-positron annihilations at a center-of-mass energy of 10.58 GeV. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 384 fb-1 and was recorded by the BABAR experiment at the PEP-II storage ring. The D Dbar mass spectrum shows clear evidence of the psi(3770) plus other structures near 3.9, 4.1, and 4.4 GeV/c^2. No evidence for Y(4260) -> D Dbar is observed, leading to an upper limit of B(Y(4260) -> D Dbar)/B(Y(4260) -> J/psi pi+ pi-) < 1.0 at 90 % confidence level.

The production of $J/\psi$ mesons in continuum $e^+e^-$ annihilations has been studied with the BABAR detector at energies near the $\Upsilon(4S)$ resonance, approximately 10.6 GeV. The mesons are distinguished from $J/\psi$ production in B decays through their center-of-mass momentum and energy. We measure the cross section $e^+e^-\to J/\psi X$ to be $2.52\pm 0.21\pm 0.21$ pb: for momentum above 2 GeV/c, it is $1.87\pm 0.10\pm 0.15$ pb. We set a 90% confidence level upper limit on the branching fraction for direct $\Upsilon(4S)$\to J/\psi X$ decays at $4.7\times 10^{-4}$.

We report final results of a series of measurements of continuum dimuon production in proton-nucleus collisions at Fermilab. New results with 6 times more statistics are included. A full description of the apparatus and methods used in the analysis of this series of measurements is given. The sea quark distribution of the nucleon is determined within the context of Drell-Yan and quantum-chromodynamic description of dilepton production in hadron collisions.

A study of b quark hadronisation is presented using inclusively reconstructed B hadrons in about four million hadronic Z decays recorded in 1992-2000 with the OPAL detector at LEP. The data are compared to different theoretical models, and fragmentation function parameters of these models are fitted. The average scaled energy of weakly decaying B hadrons is determined to be &lt;xe>=0.7193+-0.0016(stat)+0.0036-0.0031(syst)

The process e+e- --> pi+ pi- pi0 gamma has been studied at a center-of-mass energy near the Y(4S) resonance using a 89.3 fb-1 data sample collected with the BaBar detector at the PEP-II collider. From the measured 3pi mass spectrum we have obtained the products of branching fractions for the omega and phi mesons, B(omega --> e+e-)B(omega --> 3pi)=(6.70 +/- 0.06 +/- 0.27)10-5 and B(phi --> e+e-)B(phi --> 3pi)=(4.30 +/- 0.08 +/- 0.21)10-5, and evaluated the e+e- --> pi+ pi- pi0 cross section for the e+e- center-of-mass energy range 1.05 to 3.00 GeV. About 900 e+e- --> J/psi gamma --> pi+ pi- pi0 gamma events have been selected and the branching fraction B(J/psi --> pi+ pi- pi0)=(2.18 +/- 0.19)% has been measured.

We study the processes e+ e- --> 3(pi+pi-)gamma, 2(pi+pi-pi0)gamma and K+ K- 2(pi+pi-)gamma, with the photon radiated from the initial state. About 20,000, 33,000 and 4,000 fully reconstructed events, respectively, have been selected from 232 fb-1 of BaBar data. The invariant mass of the hadronic final state defines the effective e+e- center-of-mass energy, so that these data can be compared with the corresponding direct e+e- measurements. From the 3(pi+pi-), 2(pi+pi-pi0) and K+ K- 2(pi+pi-) mass spectra, the cross sections for the processes e+ e- --> 3(pi+pi-), e+ e- --> 2(pi+pi-pi0) and e+ e- --> K+ K- 2(pi+pi-) are measured for center-of-mass energies from production threshold to 4.5 GeV. The uncertainty in the cross section measurement is typically 6-15%. We observe the J/psi in all these final states and measure the corresponding branching fractions.

The e+e- -> p anti-p cross section is determined over a range of p anti-p masses, from threshold to 4.5 GeV/c^2, by studying the e+e- -> p anti-p gamma process. The data set corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 232 fb^-1, collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II storage ring, at an e+e- center-of-mass energy of 10.6 GeV. The mass dependence of the ratio of electric and magnetic form factors, |G_E/G_M|, is measured for p anti-p masses below 3 GeV/c^2: its value is found to be significantly larger than 1 for masses up to 2.2 GeV/c^2. We also measure J/psi -> p anti-p and psi(2S) -> p anti-p branching fractions and set an upper limit on Y(4260) -> p anti-p production and decay.

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.

Using the ARGUS detector at the DORIS II storage ring, we have observed the charmed baryons Σ c ++ and Σ c 0 , through their decays to Λ c + π ± . We have measured the mean Σ c −Λ c + mass difference as 167.6±0.3±1.6 MeV/ c 2 . The isospin mass splitting between the Σ c ++ and the Σ c 0 was found to be 1.2±0.7±0.3 MeV/ c 2 . The rate of Λ c + production from Σ c decays was found to be (36±12±11)% of the total rate of Λ c + production. The Σ c χ p spectrum was observed to be similar to that of the Λ c + , with a Peterson function parameter ϵ of 0.29±0.06.

We report the first observation of an orbitally excited baryon, the Λ(1520), in quark and gluon fragmentation. The production rate is found to be (1.15±0.21±0.16)×10 −2 and (0.80±0.17 −0.13 +0.10 )×10 −2 Λ (1520) hyperons per event in direct ϒ decays and in the continuum, respectively. In contrast to the observed situation for ground state baryons, the production of the Λ(1520) in direct ϒ decays shows little or no enhancement with respect to continuum production.

Using the ARGUS detector at the DORIS II e + e − storage ring we have measured direct photons from the decay ???(1 S )→ γgg . The ratio R γ = Γ (???(1S)→ γgg )/ Γ (???(1S)→ ggg )=(3.00±0.13±0.18)% has been determined, from which we deduce values of the strong coupling constant α s =0.225±0.011±0.019 and the QCD scale parameter Λ MS =115±17±28 MeV defined in the modified minimal-subtraction scheme. The shape of the measured spectrum clearly rules out the predictions of the lowest order QCD calculations.

Using the ARGUS detector at the e + e − storage ring DORIS II at DESY, we have observed production of the charmed-strange baryon Ξ c + and its neutral isospin partner, the Ξ c 0 . The Ξ c + was reconstructed in the final state Ξ − π + π + , while the Ξ c 0 was seen in decay to Ξ − π + and Ξ − π + π + π − . The average Ξ c fragmentation spectrum has been determined, as well as the production cross section times branching ratio for each decay mode. The charged and neutral masses were measured to be 2465.1 ± 3.6 ± 1.9 MeV/ c 2 and 2472.1 ± 2.7 ± 1.6 MeV/ c 2 respectively, corresponding to a mass-splitting, M ( Ξ c + ) − M ( Ξ c 0 ), of −7.0±4.5±2.2 MeV/ c 2 .

Using the ARGUS detector at the e + e − storage ring DORIS II at DESY, we have observed parity violation in the decay Λ ± c → Λπ ± . We measure the coefficient of parity violation, α Λ c , to be −0.96±0.42. In addition, we measure σ BR ( Λ + c → Λπ + and σ BR ( Λ + c → Σ 0 π + ) to be, respectively, (2.2±0.3±0.4) pb and (2.0±0.7±0.4) pb.

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.

We have measured theR value in non-resonante+e− annihilation using the ARGUS detector at the storage ring DORIS II. At a centre-of-mass energy\(\sqrt s= 9.36\) GeV the ratio of the hadronic cross-section to the μ-pair cross section in lowest order QED has been determined to beR=3.46±0.03±0.13. In addition, we have measured the charged-particle multiplicities in non-resonant hadron production at\(\sqrt s= 10.47\) GeV just below theB\(\bar B\) threshold and in ϒ (4S) resonance decays. For the average charged-particle multiplicities in continuum events and ϒ(4S)→B\(\bar B\) decays we obtain <n>cont=8.35±0.02±0.20 and <n>ϒ(4s)=10.81±0.05±0.23.

Using the ARGUS detector at thee+e− storage ring DORIS II at DESY, we have measured the inclusive production ofD0,D+ andD*(2010)+ mesons inB decays and in nonresonante+e− annihilation around 10.6 GeV. The inclusive branching ratios forB decays toD0,D+ andD*+ mesons are found to be (52.2±8.2±3.5)%, (27.2±6.3±3.5)% and (34.8±6.0±3.5)% respectively. Thus,D0 andD+ production account for about 70% of the charm produced inB decays, neglectingb→u contributions to the total width. The production cross sections and momentum spectra for continuume+e− annihilation are also presented.

The production cross sections for the Λ, Σ0, Ξ−, Σ0 (1385), Ξ0 (1530) and Ω− hyperons have been measured, both in the continuum and in direct ϒ decays. Baryon rates in direct ϒ decays are enhanced by a factor of 2.5 or more compared to the continuum. Such a large baryon enhancement cannot be explained by standard fragmentation models. The strangeness suppression for baryons and mesons turns out to be the same. A strong suppression of spin 3/2 states is observed.

Using the ARGUS detector at thee+e− storage ring DORIS II, we have investigated inclusive production of π±,K±,Ks0 and\(\bar p\) in multihadron events at 9.98 GeV and in direct decays of the ϒ(1S) meson, i.e. from quark and gluon fragmentation. The most pronounced difference is the rate of baryon production. The Lund Monte Carlo program gives a reasonable qualitative description, although it cannot reproduce our data in detail.

We report on a high precision measurement of ϕ-meson production in continuum events and in direct decays of the Υ(1S)- and Υ(2S)-mesons. The ratio of the total production rate of ϕ-mesons in direct Υ(1S)- and Υ(2S)-decays over that in continuum events is 1.32±0.08±0.09 and 1.07±0.13±0.11 respectively. This is compatible with the corresponding ratio obtained for lighter mesons, but is appreciably smaller than the relative baryon production rate.

We report on a high statistics study of π0 and η production in continuum events and in direct decays of the Γ(1S) and Γ(2S) resonances. The measured production rates per event are\(\left\langle {n_{\pi ^0 } } \right\rangle\)=3.22 ± 0.07 ± 0.31 (3.97 ± 0.23 ± 0.38) and 〈nη〉=0.19 ± 0.04 ± 0.04 (0.40 ± 0.14 ± 0.09) for continuum events (direct Γ(1S) decays).

Using data collected with the ARGUS detector, we have performed a decay angular analysis of the enhancement, previously known as the D ∗ (2420), seen in the final state D ∗ (2010) + π − . We thereby exhibit that the observed broad structure is actually due to two relatively narrow resonances, one of which is identified as the D ∗ (2459) 0 , while the massof the other is measured to be (2414±2±5) MeV/ c 2 . The results of the analysis are in good agreement with the interpretation of the two states as L =1 D mesons of spin-parities 2 + and 1 + respectively.

Using the ARGUS detector at the DORIS II e + e − storage ring at DESY, we have obtained evidence for a new charmed-strange meson which decays into D *+ K 0 . Its mass is observed to be 2535.9±0.6±2.0 MeV/ c 2 and its width to be less than 4.6 MeV/ c 2 at the 90% confidence level. No structure is observed at this mass in the D + K 0 invariant mass spectrum, which suggests that an unnatural spin-parity is preferred.

The inclusive production of charged hadrons in the collisions of quasi-real photons e+e- -> e+e- +X has been measured using the OPAL detector at LEP. The data were taken at e+e- centre-of-mass energies from 183 to 209 GeV. The differential cross-sections as a function of the transverse momentum and the pseudorapidity of the hadrons are compared to theoretical calculations of up to next-to-leading order (NLO) in the strong coupling constant alpha{s}. The data are also compared to a measurement by the L3 Collaboration, in which a large deviation from the NLO predictions is observed.

Charged particle momentum distributions are studied in the reaction e+e- -> hadrons, using data collected with the OPAL detector at centre-of-mass energies from 192 GeV to 209 GeV. The data correspond to an average centre-of- mass energy of 201.7 GeV and a total integrated luminosity of 433 pb-1. The measured distributions and derived quantities, in combination with corresponding results obtained at lower centre-of-mass energies, are compared to QCD predictions in various theoretical approaches to study the energy dependence of the strong interaction and to test QCD as the theory describing it. In general, a good agreement is found between the measurements and the corresponding QCD predictions.

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: ${1⩈er 3}[n_{Sigma^{+}+Sigma^{0}+Sigma^{-}}]=0.084pm 0.005 ({⤪ stat.}) pm 0.008 ({⤪ syst.})$.