Inclusive ϕ meson production has been measured for 100 GeV/c and 200 GeV/c incident π−,\(\bar p\) andK−, and for 120 GeV/c and 200 GeV/c incident π+,p andK+, using a Be target. A total of 630,000 ϕ mesons has been recorded in the kinematic range 0<xF<0.4. Presented are the differential cross sectionsdσ/dxF anddσ/dpT2. The longitudinal momentum distributions show that the strange valence quarks of the incidentK mesons play an important role in ϕ meson production, even at smallxF. The decay angular distribution of the ϕ meson is evaluated in the Gottfried-Jackson frame and is expressed in the elements of the density matrix. There is a small but significant cos2θGJ dependence for smallpT, which decreases for increasingpT.

The reactions\(K^ -Be \to {}^(\bar K^) *^0 (890)X,\pi ^ -Be \to {}^(\bar K^) *^0 (890)X\), have been studied in a 175 GeV unseparated hadron beam in the kinematic range 0<xF<1.0 andpT2<5 GeV2. Integrated cross-sections and the dependence of the cross-sections on the longitudinal and transverse momentum are presented, together with quark counting rules predictions. The nuclear dependence ofK− fragmentation intoK*0(890) with respect to Feynmanx is investigated from hydrogen to beryllium.

We present single inclusive π±, π0 andK± spectra in the forward fragmentation region (x>0.2,pT<1.5 GeV/c) as well as correlations between two charged particles. The data were recorded in an unseparated negative hadron beam at the CERN SPS using a large acceptance forward spectrometer. Our maasurements are compared in detail with several models which emphasise the role of the beam valence quarks in this production process. The connection to measurements at largepT is also investigated.

We study the polarization with respect to the normal to the production plane for a very clean sample of 27217 Λ 0 / Λ 0 hyperons produced in 230 GeV/ c π −  Cu interactions. In general we find P(Λ 0 ) ≈ P( Λ 0 ap; 0 except for x F > 0, p T > 1GeV/ c where P ( Λ 0 ) = −0.28±0.09(stat.)±0.02(syst.).

In the CERN NA32 experiment a high-resolution silicon vertex detector and a purely topological approach were used to collect 557 events consistent with associated charm production, both decay vertices being observed. The pseudorapidity gap distribution appears to be nearly independent of the nature of the charmed hadrons. This distribution is reasonably consistent with the next-to-leading order QCD calculations. However the azimuthal-angle distribution is significantly broader than the above predictions.

A search has been made for the hadronic production of charmed baryons and mesons with a large aperture forward magnetic spectrometer using 150 GeV protons originating from the CERN-SPS. A prompt electron trigger was used as a signature for charm. Upper limits at 90% confidence level have been obtained for the production of Λ c + D 0 , D 0 D + and D − : σ(Λ c ) ⩽ 8 μ b , σ( D 0 ) ⩽ 64 μ b , σ( D 0 ) < 37 μ b , σ( D + ) ⩽ 51 μ b and σ( D − ) ⩽ 49 μ b per nucleon, assuming linear A dependence. Systematic errors due to uncertainties in branching ratios and to model dependence of the acceptance calculation are discussed.

We have studied the hadronic production of charmed mesons in the NA 32 experiment at CERN. A special trigger together with a high resolution vertex detector consisting of charge coupled devices and silicon microstrip detectors allowed the selection of very clean samples of charmed mesons. We have collected 852 fully reconstructed decays: 60Ds+→K+K−π+, 543D°→K−π+ andK−π+π−π+ as well as 249D+→K−π+π+ (or charge conjugate). 147 mesons out of our\({{D^0 } \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {{D^0 } {\bar D^0 }}} \right. \kern-\nulldelimiterspace} {\bar D^0 }}\) sample were produced via chargedD* state. For all charmed mesons we determine the total production cross-section and study thexF andpt2 distributions.

Using data from the NA32 experiment at CERN we have studied the Λ + c decays containing a Σ + among the decay products. The interactions of 230 GeV π − with a Cu target were analysed using a precise vertex telescope (charge-coupled devices and silicon microstrip detectors) and the ACCMOR spectrometer. We have found eleven Λ + c →Σ + π + π − , one Λ + c →Σ + K + K − , two Λ + c →Σ + K + π − and one Λ + c →Σ + π + π − π + π − decays practically without any backgroun d. We have measured the branching ratios with respect to the Λ + c →pK − π + channel.

An experiment has been performed to search for associated hadronic production of charmed mesons, using a large-aperture forward magnetic spectrometer setup in a π − beam at the CERN SPS. A prompt electron trigger was used to select events containing a pair by charmed particles. D mesons have been identified by reconstruction of hadronic decay modes such as Kπ, Kππ. Data have been taken at 120, 175, and 200 GeV, The D D cross section measured at 175 200 GeV is σ( D D ) = (48 ± 15) μ b with a systematic uncertainty of ±50%. The energy dependence of the cross section is measured to be σ( D D ) [120 GeV )/σ( D D [175/200 GeV ] = 0.62 ± 0.34 .

None

The production of the neutralK− (892) resonances by 200 GeVK− andπ− has been studied over the kinematic range 0.0<xf<1.0 andpt2<5.0 GeV2. Longitudinal and transverse momentum distributions are presented. In addition the decay angular distributions inK− fragmentation to\(\bar K^{0*} \) have been investigated.

The inclusive reactions h+p→ φ +X, (h= π ±, ,K ± ,p ± ), are studied for 0⪅ x F ⪅0.3 and p ⊥ ⩽ 1 GeV at 93 and and 63 GeV incident momentum. Differential cross sections d σ /d p ⊥ 2 and dσ /d x F are presented and are compared with predictions of the naive parton model.

We have measured the differential and total cross sections ofD meson production in 200 GeV π−-beryllium interactions, using a sample of 48 fully reconstructed and nearly background-freeD mesons in the decay channelsK∓π±,K∓π±π± andK∓π∓π±π±. A single electron trigger has been used to select events containing a pair of charmed particles. A vertex telescope of 6 silison microstrip detectors allowed the reconstruction of tracks of charged secondaries and the reconstruction of primary and decay vertices with high precision. The ratio of branching fractions for\(\mathop {D^0 }\limits^{( - )}\to K^ \mp\pi ^ \pm\) to\(\mathop {D^0 }\limits^{( - )}\to K^ \mp\pi ^ \mp\pi ^ \pm\pi ^ \pm\), and an upper limit for\(D^0- \bar D^0 \) mixing are presented.

We have observed four unambiguous decays of the charmed strange baryon Ξ c o in the NA32 experiment at CERN. Charge- coupled devices and silicon microstrip detectors were used to reconstruct the decay mode Ξ c o → pK − K ∗ (892) o seen in events produced by the interaction of 230 GeV/ c negative poins and kaons on a copper target. We present the first measurement of the lifetime of the Ξ c o , together with a determination of its mass and production cross section. The resonant components of the Ξ c o decay are studied. We use our earlier measurement of the mass of the Ξ c + in the determination of the isospin mass splitting of the Ξ c states.

We have observed six unambiguous decays of the charmed strange baryon Ξ c + (or charge conjugate Ξ c − ) in the 230 GeV/c negative pions or kaons on a copper target at the CERN SPS using silicon microstrip detectors and charge-coupled devices for vertex reconstruction. Three of them have been reconstructed through the decay chain Ξ c + → Ξ − π + π + , Ξ − → Λ 0 π − , Λ 0 → pπ − and the other three through the decay chain Ξ c + → Σ + K − π + → pπ 0 . We present our measurements of the mass, lifetime and production cross-section of the Ξ c + , as well as of the branching ration for the two decay modes.

The interaction of virtual photons is investigated using double tagged gammagamma events with hadronic final states recorded by the ALEPH experiment at e^+e^- centre-of-mass energies between 188 and 209 GeV. The measured cross section is compared to Monte Carlo models, and to next-to-leading-order QCD and BFKL calculations.

The decays η → γγ and η ′ → ηπ + π − have been observed in hadronic decays of the Z produced at LEP. The fragmentation functions of both the η and η ′ have been measured. The measured multiplicities for x > 0.1 are 0.298±0.023±0.021 and 0.068±0.016 for η and η ′ respectively. While the fragmentation function for the η is fairly well described by the JETSET Monte Carlo, it is found that the production rate of the η ′ is a factor of four less than the corresponding prediction.

Inclusive beauty-quark production in two-photon collisions has been measured at LEP using an integrated luminosity of 698 pb-1 collected by the ALEPH detector with sqrt(s) between 130 and 209 GeV. The b quarks were identified using lifetime information. The cross section is found to be sigma(e+ e- --> e+ e- b \bar{b} X) = (5.4 +/- 0.8 (stat) +/- 0.8 (syst)) pb which is consistent with Next-to-Leading Order QCD.

The inclusive production of D$^{*\pm}$ mesons in two-photon collisions is measured with the ALEPH detector at $\epem$ centre-of-mass energies from 183$\unit{GeV}$ to 209$\unit{GeV}$. A total of $360 \pm 27$ D$^{*\pm}$ meson events were observed from an integrated luminosity of 699\unit{pb^{-1}}$. Contributions from direct and single-resolved rocesses are separated using the ratio of the transverse momentum $p_{\rm t}^{\rm D^{*\pm}}$ of the D$^{*\pm}$ to the visible invariant mass $W_{\mathrm{vis}}$ of the event. Differential cross sections of D$^{*\pm}$ production as functions of $p_{\rm t}^{\rm D^{*\pm}}$ and the pseudorapidity $|\eta^{\rm D^{*\pm}}| $ are measured in the range $ 2\unit{GeV}/c < p_{\rm t}^{\rm D^{*\pm}} < 12\unit{GeV}/c $ and $ |\eta^{\rm D^{*\pm}}| < 1.5 $. They are compared to next-to-leading order (NLO)perturbative QCD calculations. The extrapolation of the integrated visible D$^{*\pm}$ cross section to the total charm cross section, based on the Pythia Monte Carlo program, yields $ \sigma (\epem \to \epem \ccbar)_ {=197\unit{GeV}} = 731 \pm 74_{\mathrm{stat}} \pm 47_{\mathrm{syst}} \pm 157_{\mathrm{extr}} \unit{pb} $.

Inclusive π±, K± and\((p,\bar p)\) differential cross-sections in hadronic decays of the Z have been measured as a function ofz=Phadron/Pbeam, the scaled momentum. The results are based on approximately 520 000 events measured by the ALEPH detector at LEP during 1992. Charged particles are identified by their rate of ionization energy loss in the ALEPH Time Projection Chamber. The position, ξ*, of the peak in the ln(1/z) distribution is determined, and the evolution of the peak position with centre-of-mass energy is compared with the prediction of QCD.

Measurements of the inclusive cross-sections forK0 and Λ production in hadronic decays of the Z are presented together with measurements of two-particle correlations within pairs of Λ andK0. The results are compared with predictions from the hadronization models Jetset, based on string fragmentation, and Herwig, based on cluster decays. TheK0 spectrum is found to be harder than predicted by both models, while the Λ spectrum is softer than predicted. The correlation measurements are all reproduced well by Jetset, while Herwig misses some of the qualitative features and overestimates the size of the\(\Lambda \bar \Lambda \) correlation. Finally, the possibility of Bose-Einstein correlation in theKS0KS0 system is discussed.

The production of charmed mesons$$\mathop {D^0 }\limits^{( - )} $$,D

A study of scaling violations in fragmentation functions performed by the ALEPH collaboration at LEP is presented. Data samples enriched in uds, c, b and gluon jets, respectively, together with measurements of the longitudinal and transverse inclusive cross sections are used to extract the fragmentation function for the gluon and for each flavour. The measurements are compared to data from experiments at energies between 22 GeV and 91 GeV and scaling violations consistent with QCD predictions are observed. From this, a measurement of the strong coupling constant α s ( Mz ) = 0.126 ±0.009 is obtained.

The polarization of Λ baryons from Z decays is studied with the Aleph apparatus. Evidence of longitudinal polarization of s quarks from Z decay is observed for the first time. The measured longitudinal Λ polarization is P L Λ = −0.32 ± 0.07 for z = p p beam > 0.3 . This agrees with the prediction of −0.39 ± 0.08 from the standard model and the constituent quark model, where the error is due to uncertainties in the mechanism for Λ production. The observed Λ polarization is diluted with respect to the primary s quark polarization by Λ baryons without a primary s quark. Measurements of the Λ forward-backward asymmetry and of the correlation between back-to-back Λ Λ pairs are used to check this dilution. In addition the transverse Λ polarization is measured. An indication of transverse polarization, more than two standard deviations away from zero, is found along the normal to the plane defined by the thrust axis and the Λ direction.

A measurement of the inclusive production of π0 mesons in hadronic Z decays is presented and compared to Monte Carlo model predictions. The analysis is based on approximately 2 million hadronic events recorded with the ALEPH detector at LEP at a centre-of-mass energy of ⊡s = 91.2 GeV. Neutral pions are reconstructed using photons measured in the electromagnetic calorimeter and photons from conversion pairs. The inclusive π0 momentum spectrum is measured in the range 0.025 < xp = p/pbeam < 1. In this range the number of π0 per hadronic Z is found to be 4.80 ± 0.07(stat) ± 0.31(sys). The differential inclusive π0 cross section is also measured as a function of transverse momentum with respect to the event plane (pTin and pTout).