Inclusive transverse momentum spectra of charged particles in photoproduction events in the laboratory pseudorapidity range $-1.2<\eta<1.4$ have been measured up to $p_{T}=8\GeV $ using the ZEUS detector. Diffractive and non--diffractive reactions have been selected with an average $\gamma p$ centre of mass (c.m.) energy of $\langle W \rangle = 180\GeV$. For diffractive reactions, the $p_{T}$ spectra of the photon dissociation events have been measured in two intervals of the dissociated photon mass with mean values $\langle M_{X} \rangle = 5$ GeV and $10$ GeV. The inclusive transverse momentum spectra fall exponentially in the low $p_{T}$ region. The non--diffractive data show a pronounced high $p_{T}$ tail departing from the exponential shape. The $p_{T}$ distributions are compared to lower energy photoproduction data and to hadron--hadron collisions at a similar c.m. energy. The data are also compared to the results of a next--to--leading order QCD calculation.

The reactions e + e − → e + e − e + e − and e + e − → e + e − μ + μ − , in a single tag configuration, are studied at LEP with the L3 detector. The data set corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 93.7 pb −1 at s =91 GeV. Differential cross sections are measured for 1.4 GeV 2 ≤Q 2 ≤7.6 GeV 2 . The leptonic photon structure function F γ 2 and azimuthal correlations are measured for e + e − → e + e − μ + μ − . The related structure functions F γ A and F γ B , which originate from interference terms of the scattering amplitudes, are determined for the first time.

We have measured the cross section of four charged pion production in photon-photon interactions in the invariant mass range 1.0≦Wγγ≦3.2 GeV and up toQ2=16 GeV2. For 1.2 GeV≦Wγγ≦1.7 GeV the process is dominated by ρ0ρ0 production with a rapid rise in cross section around 1.2 GeV, well below the nominal ρ0ρ0 threshold. The observed distributions in the two particle masses and in the production and decay angles are well described by an incoherent sum of the phase-space subprocesses γγ →ρ0ρ0, →ρ0π+π−, and →π+π−π+π−. A spin-parity analysis of the ρ0ρ0 system showsJP=2+ to dominate, although 0+ is also possible forWγγ≦1.4 GeV. Negative partity states are excluded.

Diffractive dissociation of quasi-real photons at a photon-proton centre of mass energy of W 200 GeV is studied with the ZEUS detector at HERA. The process under consideration is gamma p -> X N, where X is the diffractively dissociated photon system of mass M_X and N is either a proton or a nucleonic system with mass M_N < 2GeV. The cross section for this process in the interval 3 < M_X < 24 GeV relative to the total photoproduction cross section was measured to be sigma~partial_D / sigma_tot = 6.2 +- 0.2(stat) +- 1.4(syst)%. After extrapolating this result to the mass interval of m_phi~2 < M_X~2 < 0.05 W~2 and correcting it for proton dissociation, the fraction of the total cross section attributed to single diffractive photon dissociation, gamma p -> X p, is found to be sigma_SD / sigma_tot = 13.3 +- 0.5(stat) +- 3.6(syst)%. The mass spectrum of the dissociated photon system in the interval 8 < M_X < 24 GeV can be described by the triple pomeron (PPP) diagram with an effective pomeron intercept of alpha_P(0) = 1.12 +- 0.04(stat) +- 0.08(syst). The cross section for photon dissociation in the range 3 < M_X < 8 GeV is significantly higher than that expected from the triple pomeron amplitude describing the region 8 < M_X < 24 GeV. Assuming that this discrepancy is due to a pomeron-pomeron-reggeon (PPR) term, its contribution to the diffractive cross section in the interval 3 < M_X < 24 GeV is estimated to be f_PPR = 26 +- 3(stat) +- 12(syst)%.

We present results for the reactions νp→μ−π+p and νp→μ−K+p at energies above 5 GeV. The average cross section for the first reaction between 15 and 40 GeV is (0.80±0.12) × 10−38 cm2 and for events with Mπ+p<1.4 GeV is (0.55±0.08) × 10−38 cm2. The ratio of the cross section for the second reaction to that for the first is 0.017±0.010.

The final states K S 0 K S 0 π + π − and K S 0 K ∓ π 0 π ± , produced in two-photon reactions, have been studied using the ARGUS detector at the e + e − storage ring DORIS II at DESY. The reaction γγ→ K ∗+ K ∗− has been observed for the first time. Its cross section is about eight times larger than that for γγ→ K ∗0 K ∗0 , but it has a similar W γγ dependence.

The reaction γγ → 2 π + 2 π − 2 π 0 has been studied using the ARGUS detector at the e + e − storage ring DORIS II at DESY. Production of ω mesons is observed and, in particular, the reaction γγ → ωω is seen for the first time. The cross section for γγ → ωω has an enhancement at ∼ 1.9 GeV/ c 2 of about 10 nb. The cross sections for γγ → 2 π + 2 π − 2 π 0 and γγ → ωπ + π − π 0 are also given.

Elastic $\rho~0$ photoproduction has been measured using the ZEUS detector at HERA. Untagged photoproduction events from $ep$ interactions were used to measure the reaction $\gamma p \rightarrow \rho~0 p$ ($\rho~0 \rightarrow \pi~+ \pi~-$) at photon-proton centre-of-mass energies between 60 and 80GeV and $|t|&lt;0.5$GeV$~2$, where $t$ is the square of the four-momentum transferred at the proton vertex. The differential cross section $d\sigma/dM_{\pi\pi}$, where $M_{\pi\pi}$ is the invariant mass of the two pions, and the integrated cross section, $\sigma_{\gamma p\rightarrow \rho~0 p}$, are presented; the latter was measured to be $14.7\pm 0.4(\mbox{stat.})\pm2.4(\mbox{syst.})\mu\mbox{b}$. The differential cross section $d\sigma/dt$ has an approximately exponential shape; a fit of the type $A~{\prime}_{t} \exp{(-b~{\prime}_{t}|t| + c~{\prime}_{t} t~2)}$ yields a $t$-slope $b~{\prime}_{t}= 9.9\pm1.2(\mbox{stat.})\pm 1.4(\mbox{syst.})\mu\mbox{b}$. The results, when compared to low energy data, show a weak energy dependence of both $\sigma_{\gamma p\rightarrow \rho~0 p}$ and of the $t$-slope. The $\rho~0$ is produced predominantly with transverse polarisation, demonstrating that $s$-channel helicity conservation holds at these energies.

Two samples of exclusive semileptonic decays, 579 B 0 → D ∗+ ℓ − ν ℓ events and 261 B 0 → D + ℓ − ν ℓ events, are selected from approximately 3.9 million hadronic Z decays collected by the ALEPH detector at LEP. From the reconstructed differential decay rate of each sample, the product of the hadronic form factor F (ω) at zero recoil of the D (∗)+ meson and the CKM matrix element | V cb | are measured to be F D ∗+ (1)|V cb | = (31.9 ± 1.8 stat ± 1.9 syst ) × 10 −3 , F D + (1)| V cb | = (27.8 ± 6.8 stat ± 6.5 syst ) × 10 −3 . The ratio of the form factors F D + (1) and F D ∗+ (1) is measured to be F D + (1) F D ∗+ (1) = 0.87 ± 0.22 stat ± 0.21 syst . A value of | V cb | is extracted from the two samples, using theoretical constraints on the slope and curvature of the hadronic form factors and their normalization at zero recoil, with the result | V cb | = (34.4 ± 1.6 stat ± 2.3 syst ± 1.4 th ) × 10 −3 . The branching fractions are measured from the two integrated spectra to be Br ( B 0 → D ∗+ ℓ − ν ℓ ) = (5.53 ± 0.26 stat ±0.52 syst ) %, Br ( B 0 → D ∗+ ℓ − ν ℓ ) = (2.35 ± 0.20 stat ± 0.44 syst ) %.

The pion form factor is measured in the reaction e + e − → π + π − for center of mass energies in the range 480–1100 MeV. Our results are first analysed in terms of the conventional Vector Meson Dominance formalism, and then taking into account the ωπ inelastic channel. The result of this later formalism is a pion form factor ( F π ) which fits quite well all the existing data on F π both in the timelike and spacelike regions, and pion mean square radius of 〈 r π 2 〉 = 0.460 ± 0.011 fm 2 or 〈r π 2 〉 1 2 = 0.678 ± 0.008 fm .