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 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 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 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.

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.

The correlated production of Lambda and Lambdabar baryons has been studied using 4.3 million multihadronic Zo decays recorded with the OPAL detector at LEP. Di-lambda pairs were investigated in the full data sample and for the first time also in 2-jet and 3-jet events selected with the k_t algorithm. The distributions of rapidity differences from correlated Lambda-Lambdabar pairs exhibit short-range, local correlations and prove to be a sensitive tool to test models, particularly for 2-jet events. The JETSET model describes the data best but some extra parameter tuning is needed to improve agreement with the experimental results in the rates and the rapidity spectra simultaneously. The recently developed modification of JETSET, the MOdified Popcorn Scenarium (MOPS), and also HERWIG do not give satisfactory results. This study of di-lambda production in 2- and 3-jet events supports the short-range compensation of quantum numbers.

The helicity density matrix elements rho[00] of rho(770)+- and omega(782) mesons produced in Z decays have been measured using the OPAL detector at LEP. Over the measured meson energy range, the values are compatible with 1/3, corresponding to a statistical mix of helicity -1, 0 and +1 states. For the highest accessible scaled energy range 0.3 < x_E < 0.6, the measured rho[00] values of the rho(770)+- and the omega are 0.373 +- 0.052 and 0.142 +- 0.114, respectively. These results are compared to measurements of other vector mesons.

The Fermilab E866/NuSea Collaboration has measured the Drell-Yan dimuon cross sections in 800 GeV/$c$ $pp$ and $pd$ collisions. This represents the first measurement of the Drell-Yan cross section in $pp$ collisions over a broad kinematic region and the most extensive study to date of the Drell-Yan cross section in $pd$ collisions. The results indicate that recent global parton distribution fits provide a good description of the light antiquark sea in the nucleon over the Bjorken-$x$ range $0.03 \lesssim x < 0.15$, but overestimate the valence quark distributions as $x \to 1$.

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 $\sigma (e^+e^- \to \bar{d}X) = (9.63 \pm 0.41 \mathrm{(stat)} {}^{+1.17}_{-1.01} \mathrm{(syst)}) \mbox{\,fb}$.

We have used the CLEO II detector to study the multiplicity of charged particles in the decays of B mesons produced at the $\Upsilon(4S)$ resonance. Using a sample of 1.5 x 10^6 B meson pairs, we find the mean inclusive charged particle multiplicity to be 10.71 +- 0.02 +0.21/-0.15 for the decay of the pair. This corresponds to a mean multiplicity of 5.36 +- 0.01 +0.11/-0.08 for a single B meson. Using the same data sample, we have also extracted the mean multiplicities in semileptonic and nonleptonic decays. We measure a mean of 7.82 +- 0.05 +0.21/-0.19 charged particles per $B\bar{B}$ decay when both mesons decay semileptonically. When neither B meson decays semileptonically, we measure a mean charged particle multiplicity of 11.62 +- 0.04 +0.24/-0.18 per $B\bar{B}$ pair.