We have measured the partial widths for the three reactions e + e − → Z 0 → e + e − , μ + μ − , τ + τ − . The results are Γ ee = 84.3±1.3 MeV, √ Γ ee Γ μμ =83.9±1.4 MeV, and √ Γ ee Γ ττ =83.9±1.4 MeV, where the errors are statistical. The systematic errors are estimated to be 1.0 MeV, 0.9 MeV, and 1.4 MeV, respectively. We perform a simultaneous fit to the cross sections for the e + e − →e + e − , μ + μ − , and τ + τ − data, the differential cross section as a function of polar angle for the electron data, and the forward- backward asymmetry for the muon data. We obtain the leptonic partial with Γ ℓℓ =84.0±0.9 (stat.) MeV. The systematic error is estimated to be 0.8 MeV. Also, we obtain the axial-vector and vector weak coupling constants of charged leptons, g A =−0.500±0.003 and g ν =−0.064 −0.013 +0.017 .

Inclusive D^{*+-} production in two-photon collisions is studied with the L3 detector at LEP, using 683 pb^{-1} of data collected at centre-of-mass energies from 183 to 208 GeV. Differential cross sections are determined as functions of the transverse momentum and pseudorapidity of the D^{*+-} mesons in the kinematic region 1 GeV < P_T < 12 GeV and |eta| < 1.4. The cross sections sigma(e^+e^- -> e^+e^-D^{*+-}X) in this kinematical region is measured and the sigma(e^+e^- -> e^+e^- cc{bar}X) cross section is derived. The measurements are compared with next-to-leading order perturbative QCD calculations.

Inclusive production of $\mathrm{D^{*\pm}}$ mesons in two-photon collisions was measured by the L3 experiment at LEP. The data were collected at a centre-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s} = 189$ GeV with an integrated luminosity of $176.4 \mathrm{pb^{-1}}$. Differential cross sections of the process $\mathrm{e^+e^- \to D^{*\pm} X}$ are determined as functions of the transverse momentum and pseudorapidity of the $\mathrm{D^{*\pm}}$ mesons in the kinematic region 1 GeV $< p_{T}^{\mathrm{D^*}} < 5 $ GeV and $\mathrm{|\eta^{D^*}|} < 1.4$. The cross section integrated over this phase space domain is measured to be $132 \pm 22(stat.) \pm 26(syst.)$ pb. The differential cross sections are compared with next-to-leading order perturbative QCD 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.

The cross section of charm production in γγ collisions σ(e + e − →e + e − c c ̄ X) is measured at LEP with the L3 detector at centre-of-mass energies from 91 GeV to 183 GeV. Charmed hadrons are identified by electrons and muons from semileptonic decays. The direct process γγ→c c ̄ is found to be insufficient to describe the data. The measured cross section values and event distributions require contributions from resolved processes, which are sensitive to the gluon density in the photon.

We have made a precise measurement of the cross section for e + e − →Z 0 →hadrons with the L3 detector at LEP, covering the s range from 88.28 to 95.04 GeV. From a fit to the Z 0 mass, total width, and the hadronic cross section to be M Z 0 =91.160 ± 0.024 (experiment) ±0.030(LEP) GeV, Γ Z 0 =2.539±0.054 GeV, and σ h ( M Z 0 )=29.5±0.7 nb. We also used the fit to the Z 0 peak cross section and the width todetermine Γ invisible =0.548±0.029 GeV, which corresponds to 3.29±0.17 species of light neutrinos. The possibility of four or more neutrino flavors is thus ruled out at the 4σ confidence level.

We have studied the process e<sup loc="post">+</sup>e<sup loc="post">−</sup> → nγ (n ≥ 2) at an average center-of-mass energy of 133 GeV using the L3 detector at LEP. For an integrated luminosity of 4.95 pb<sup loc="post">−1</sup> we find one γγγγ(γ) final state with only hard photons. The rates of both γγγ and γγ events are consistent with QED expectations. The cross section of the reaction e<sup loc="post">+</sup>e<sup loc="post">−</sup> → γγ(γ) in the polar range 16° &lt; θγ < 164° is measured to be 22.6 ± 2.2 pb. Decays into photons of narrow scalar resonances with masses between 90 and 130 GeV are not observed. The observation of the event with four energetic photons is consistent with QED although the kinematic configuration of the photons is atypical.

A study of neutral-current four-fermion processes is performed using a data sample corresponding to 55.3 pb −1 of integrated luminosity collected by the L3 detector at LEP at an average centre-of-mass energy of 183 GeV. The neutral-current four-fermion cross sections for final states with a pair of charged leptons plus jets and with four charged leptons are measured to be consistent with the Standard Model predictions. Events with fermion pair masses close to the Z boson mass are selected in all observable final states and the ZZ production cross section is measured to be σ ZZ =0.30 +0.22 +0.07 −0.16 −0.03 pb, in agreement with the Standard Model expectation. No evidence for the existence of anomalous triple gauge boson ZZZ and ZZ γ couplings is found and limits on these couplings are set.

We report on the measurement of W-boson pair-production with the L3 detector at LEP. In a data sample corresponding to a total luminosity of 55.47 pb −1 collected at an average centre-of-mass energy of 182.68 GeV , we select 824 four-fermion events with pairs of hadronic jets or pairs of leptons with high invariant masses. Branching fractions of W decays into different fermion-antifermion pairs are determined. Assuming charged-current lepton universality, the branching fraction for hadronic W decays is measured to be: B( W→hadrons )=70.1±1.3 (stat.)±0.4 (syst.) % . Combining all final states the total cross section for W-pair production is measured to be: σ WW =16.53±0.67 (stat.)±0.26 (syst.) pb.

We have measured the cross section for e + e − →hadrons over the center of mass energy range of the Z 0 peak, from 88.22 to 95.03 GeV. We determine the Z 0 mass M z =91.164±0.013 (experiment) ±0.030 (LEP) GeV. Within the framework of the standard model we determine the invisible width, Γ invisible =0.502±0.018 GeV, and the number of light neutrino species, N ν =3.01±0.11. We exclude the existence of a supersymmetric scalar neutrino having a mass less than 31.4 GeV, at the 95% confidence level. We performed a model independent combined fit to the e + e − →hadrons and e + e − → μ + μ − data to determine total width, leptonic width and hadronic width of the Z 0 .

We report on the measurement of W-boson pair-production with the L3 detector at LEP at an average centre-of-mass energy of 172.13 GeV. In a data sample corresponding to a total luminosity of 10.25 pb −1 we select 110 four-fermion events with pairs of hadronic jets or leptons with high invariant masses. Branching fractions of W decays into different fermion-antifermion pairs are determined with and without the assumption of charged-current lepton universality. The branching fraction for hadronic W decays is measured to be: B (W → hadrons) = 64.2 −3.8 +3.7 (stat.) ± 0.5 (syst.) %. Combining all final states the total cross section for W-pair production is measured to be: σ WW = 12.27 −1.32 +1.41 (stat.) ± 0.23 (syst.) pb. The results are in good agreement with the Standard Model.

We report on a study of radiative Bhabha and quasi-real Compton scattering at centre-of-mass energies between 50 GeV and 170 GeV, and 20 GeV and 140 GeV, respectively, using the L3 detector at LEP. The analysis is based on data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 232.2 pb −1 . A total of 2856 radiative Bhabha and 4641 Compton scattering events are collected. Total and differential cross sections for both reactions are presented and found to be in good agreement with QED expectations. Our measurement of Compton scattering at the highest energies obtained so far is used to derive exclusion limits on the coupling λ for the on-shell production of an excited electron e ★ decaying into a γ e pair in the mass range 20 GeV

Measurements of the two-photon interaction e + e − → e + e − + hadrons at s ≃ 91 GeV and s ≃ 183 GeV are presented. The double-tag events, collected with the L3 detector, correspond to interated luminosities of 140 pb −1 at 91 GeV and 52 pb −1 at 183 GeV. The cross-section of γ ∗ γ ∗ collisions has been measured at 〈 Q 2 〉 = 3.5 GeV 2 and 〈 Q 2 〉 = 14 GeV 2 . The data agree well with predictions based on perturbative QCD, while the Quark Parton Model alone is insufficient to describe the data.

We present a study of jet multiplicities based on 37 000 hadronic Z 0 boson decays. From this data we determine the strong coupling constant α s =0.115±0.005 ( exp .) −0.010 +0.012 (theor.) to second order QCD at √ s =91.22GeV.

We have studied the process e + e − → n γ (n ≥ 2) at centre-of-mass energies of 161.3 GeV and 172.1 GeV. The analysis is based on a sample of events collected by the L3 detector in 1996 corresponding to total integrated luminosities of 10.7 pb −1 and 10.1 pb −1 respectively. The observed rates of events with two and more photons and the characteristic distributions are in good agreement with the Standard Model expectations. This is used to set lower limits on contact interaction energy scale parameters, on the QED cut-off parameters and on the mass of excited electrons.

We report on the measurement of W-boson pair-production with the L3 detector at LEP at a centre-of-mass energy of 161.34 GeV. In a data sample corresponding to a total luminosity of 11 pb −1 , we select four-fermion events with high invariant masses of pairs of hadronic jets or leptons. Combining all final states, the measured total cross section for W-pair production is: sigma WW = 2.89 −0.70 +0.81 (stat.) ± 0.14 (syst.) pb. Within the Standard Model, this corresponds to a mass of the W boson of: M W = 80.80 −0.42 +0.48 (exp.) ± 0.03 (LEP) GeV. Limits on anomalous triple-vector-boson couplings are derived.

We report the results of first physics runs of the L3 detector at LEP. Based on 2538 hadron events, we determined the mass m z 0 and the width Γ z 0 of the intermediate vector boson Z 0 to be m z 0 =91.132±0.057 GeV (not including the 46 MeV LEP machine energy uncertainty) and Γ z 0 =2.588±0.137 GeV. We also determined Γ invisible =0.567±0.080 GeV, corresponding to 3.42±0.48 number of neutrino flavors. We also measured the muon pair cross section and determined the branching ratio Γ μμ = Γ h =0.056±0.006. The partial width of Z 0 →e + e − is Γ ee =88±9±7 MeV.

A search for single and multi-photon events with missing energy is performed using data collected at centre-of-mass energies between 161 GeV and 172 GeV for a total of 20.9 pb −1 of integrated luminosity. The results obtained are used to derive the value for the ν ν γ(γ) cross section as well as upper limits on new physics processes.

We report on measurements of e + e − annihilation into hadrons and lepton pairs. The data have been taken with the L3 detector at LEP at center-of-mass energies between 161 GeV and 172 GeV. In a data sample corresponding to 21.2 pb −1 of integrated luminosity 2728 hadronic and 868 lepton-pair events are selected. The measured cross sections and leptonic forward-backward asymmetries agree well with the Standard Model predictions.

We report on the observation of single W boson production in a data sample collected by the L3 detector at LEP2. The signal consists of large missing energy final states with a single energetic lepton or two hadronic jets. The cross-section is measured to be 0.61 −0.33 +0.43 ± 0.05 pb at the centre of mass energy s = 172 GeV , consistent with the Standard Model expectation. From this measurement the following limits on the anomalo γWW gauge couplingsare derived at 95% CL: −3.6 < Δκ γ < 1.5 and −3.6 < λ γ < 3.6.

We report on a study of single W boson production in a data sample collected by the L3 detector at centre-of-mass energies from 130 to 183 GeV. The signal consists of large missing energy final states with a single energetic lepton or two hadronic jets. The measured cross sections at five different centre-of-mass energies are consistent with the Standard Model expectations. The following limits on the anomalous WW γ gauge couplings are derived at 95% CL: −0.46< Δκ γ <0.57 and −0.86< λ γ <0.75.

We have measured the partial width and forward-backward charge asymmetry for the reaction e + e - →Z 0 →μ + μ - (γ). We obtain a partial width Γ μμ of 83.3±1.3(stat)±0.9(sys) MeV and the following values for the vector and axial vector couplings: g v =−0.062 −0.015 +0.020 and g A =−0.497 −0.005 +0.005 . From our measurement of the partial width and the mass of the Z 0 boson we determine the effective electroweak mixing angle, sin 2 θ w =0.232±0.005, and the neutral current coupling strength parameter, ϱ =0.998±0.016.

None

A search for the neutral Higgs boson in the processes e + e − → Z → H 0 γ → q q γ and e + e − → Z → Z ∗ H 0 → q q γγ has been performed using 2.8 million hadronic Z decays collected with the L3 detector at LEP from 1991 through 1994. No evidence for these processes has been observed. Upper limits at 95% confidence level for the corresponding cross sections have been set and the results have been compared with theoretical predictions beyond the Standard Model.

The two-photon collision reaction e + e − → e + e − l + l − has been studied at 2 ≈91 GeV using the L3 detector at LEP for l = e, μ , τ . We have analysed untagged configurations where the two photons are quasi-real. Good agreement is found between our measurements and the O (α 4 ) QED expectation.