A comprehensive survey of event-by-event fluctuations of charged hadron multiplicity in relativistic heavy ions is presented. The survey covers Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 62.4 and 200 GeV, and Cu+Cu collisions sqrt(s_NN) = 22.5, 62.4, and 200 GeV. Fluctuations are measured as a function of collision centrality, transverse momentum range, and charge sign. After correcting for non-dynamical fluctuations due to fluctuations in the collision geometry within a centrality bin, the remaining dynamical fluctuations expressed as the variance normalized by the mean tend to decrease with increasing centrality. The dynamical fluctuations are consistent with or below the expectation from a superposition of participant nucleon-nucleon collisions based upon p+p data, indicating that this dataset does not exhibit evidence of critical behavior in terms of the compressibility of the system. An analysis of Negative Binomial Distribution fits to the multiplicity distributions demonstrates that the heavy ion data exhibit weak clustering properties.

The differential cross sections for KL0p→KS0p scattering are presented in several momentum intervals between 1 and 10 GeVc. The data are strongly peaked in the forward direction, characteristic of a large s-channel helicity-nonflip scattering amplitude in this reaction, and a distinct break in the differential cross section occurs at |t|=0.3 GeV2. The phase of the forward scattering amplitude, φ, is consistent with being independent of momentum. The average value of the phase, φ=−133.9±4.0∘, corresponds to a Regge trajectory α(0)=0.49±0.05 in agreement with the canonical ρ, ω0 Regge intercept, α(0)∼0.5. However, this result disagrees with the Regge trajectory determined from the energy dependence of the forward cross section, α(0)=0.30±0.03, indicating a breaking of the Regge phase-energy relation. Comparisons of KL0p→KS0p and π−p→π0n scattering data reveal substantial differences in the energy dependence of the differential cross sections. Comparisons to KN charge-exchange data then suggest that direct-channel (absorption) effects may explain the differences in πN and KN channels.

Cross sections, differential cross sections, and hyperon polarization results are presented for the reactions K¯0p→Λπ+ and K¯0p→Σ0π+ in the momentum interval 1 to 12 GeV/c. Emphasis is placed on the comparison of Λ and Σ channels, and on the momentum dependences of the data. In particular, the Λ polarization data are consistent with being independent of energy above 2 GeV/c; and the slopes of the forward cross sections are found to increase toward the slope values for the line-reversed reactions πp→K(Λ,Σ) as energy increases.

We report on an experiment to obtain differential cross sections for K+p elastic scattering in the vicinity of the possible exotic baryon, the Z1*(1900). The differential cross sections are based on typically 70 000 selected events in the angular region −0.9≤cosθc.m.≤0.9 at each of 22 momenta from 0.865 to 2.125 GeV/c. The data are intended for use in partial-wave analysis to search for the Z1*.

Total cross sections for the π − p single charge exchange and 20° “partial-total” cross sections have been measured between 126 and 202 MeV pion energy. The former are about 4% below similar results of Bugg et al. and (5–10)% below predictions made with currently accepted phase shifts. The latter agree quite well with calculations.

The cross section of W-boson pair-production is measured with the L3 detector at LEP. In a data sample corresponding to a total luminosity of 629.4/pb, collected at centre-of-mass energies ranging from 189 to 209 GeV, 9834 four-fermion events with W bosons decaying into hadrons or leptons are selected. The total cross section is measured with a precision of 1.4 % and agrees with the Standard Model expectation. Assuming charged-lepton universality, the branching fraction for hadronic W-boson decays is measured to be: Br(W-->hadrons) = 67.50 +- 0.42 (stat.) +- 0.30(syst.) %, in agreement with the Standard Model. Differential cross sections as a function of the W- production angle are also measured for the semi-leptonic channels qqev and qqmv.

Exclusive rho rho production in two-photon collisions involving a single highly virtual photon is studied with data collected at LEP at centre-of-mass energies 89GeV < \sqrt{s} < 209GeV with a total integrated luminosity of 854.7pb^-1 The cross section of the process gamma gamma^* -> rho rho is determined as a function of the photon virtuality, Q^2 and the two-photon centre-of-mass energy, Wgg, in the kinematic region: 1.2GeV^2 < Q^2 < 30GeV^2 and 1.1GeV < Wgg < 3GeV.

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 $\Gamma=271 \pm 22 \pm 29 \ MeV$.

Neutrons arising from the breakup of a 30 MeV/nucleon 19 C beam on a tantalum target have been measured using the 98 element array DEMON. A narrow, forward peaked neutron angular distribution, with a corresponding momentum spread considerably smaller than those measured simultaneously for 21 N, 22 O and 24 F, was observed for charged fragments with Z < Z proj . Interpreted in terms of the core-breakup reaction model, the results support the existence of a one neutron halo in 19 C.

We have measured the ratio of the strong coupling constants α s for bottom quarks and light quarks at the Z 0 resonance, in order to test the flavour independence of the strong interaction. The coupling strength α s has been determined from the fraction of events with three jets, measured for a sample of all hardronic events, and for inclusive muon and electron events. The b purity is evaluated to be 22% for the first data set and 87% for the inclusive lepton sample. We find α s ( b ) α s ( udsc ) =1.00± 0.05 ( stat. )±0.06 ( syst. ) .