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.

The reaction γγ → 2 π + 2 π − π 0 has been studied using the the ARGUS detector at the e + e − storage ring DORIS II at DESY. The production of the vector-meson pair ωϱ 0 is observed for the first time. The cross section for γγ → ωϱ 0 and the topological cross section for γγ → 2 π + 2 π − π 0 are given. The angular distribution in ωϱ 0 events do not indicate any specific dominant spin-parity; they are consistent with isotropic production and decay of the ω and ϱ 0 mesons over the available W γγ range.

The final state K + K − π + π − has been studied in γγ interactions using the ARGUS detector at the e + e − storage ring DORIS II at DESY. Production of the vector meson pair K ∗0 (892) K ∗0 (892) is observed for the first time. The cross section for K + K − π + π − , K ∗0 K − π + +c.c. and K ∗0 K ∗0 are all found to be of the order of a few nb. In the W γγ range accessible, a mean upper limit of 0.5 nb at 95% CL is derived for φϱ 0 production.

The cross section of the $e^+e^-\to\omega\pi^0\to\pi^0\pi^0\gamma$ reaction was measured by the SND detector at VEPP-2M $e^+e^-$ collider in the energy range from threshold up to 1.4 GeV. Results of the cross section fitting by the sum of $\rho$, $\rho^{\prime}$ and $\rho^{\prime\prime}$ contributions are presented.

In experiments with the CMD-2 detector at the VEPP-2M electron-positron collider at Novosibirsk about 150000 $e^+e^-\to\pi^+\pi^-$ events were recorded in the center-of-mass energy range from 0.61 up to 0.96 GeV. The result of the pion form factor measurement with a 1.4% systematic error is presented. The following values of the $\rho$-meson and $\rho-\omega$ interference parameters were found: $M_\rho=(775.28\pm 0.61\pm 0.20) MeV, \Gamma_\rho=(147.70\pm 1.29 \pm 0.40) MeV, \Gamma(\rho\to e^+e^-)=(6.93\pm 0.11\pm 0.10) keV, Br(\omega\to\pi^+\pi^-) = (1.32\pm 0.23)%$.

Using 3.07 ${pb}^{-1}$ of data collected in the energy range 0.60-0.97 GeV by CMD-2, about 150 events of the process $\epm \to \pch$ have been selected. The energy dependence of the cross section agrees with the assumption of the $a_1(1260) \pi$ intermediate state which is dominant above 1 GeV. For the first time \fourpi events are observed at the $\rho$ meson energy. Under the assumption that all these events come from the $\rho$ meson decay, the value of the cross section at the $\rho$ meson peak corresponds to the following decay width: \Gamma(\rho^0 \to \fourpi) = (2.8 \pm 1.4 \pm 0.5) {keV} or to the branching ratio B(\rho^0 \to \fourpi) = (1.8 \pm 0.9 \pm 0.3) \cdot 10 ^{-5}.

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.

The cross section of the process e^+e^-\to \pi^+\pi^- was measured in the SND experiment at the VEPP-2M collider in the energy region 400<\sqrt[]{s}<1000 MeV. This measurement was based on about 12.4 \times 10^6 selected collinear events, which include 7.4\times 10^6 e^+e^-\to e^+e^-, 4.5\times 10^6 e^+e^-\to\pi^+\pi^- and 0.5\times 10^6 e^+e^-\to\mu^+\mu^- selected events. The systematic uncertainty of the cross section determination is 1.3 %. The \rho-meson parameters were determined: m_\rho=774.9\pm 0.4\pm 0.5 MeV, \Gamma_\rho=146.5\pm 0.8\pm 1.5 MeV, \sigma(\rho\to\pi^+\pi^-)=1220\pm 7\pm 16 nb as well as the parameters of the G-parity suppressed decay \omega\to\pi^+\pi^-: \sigma(\omega\to\pi^+\pi^-)=29.9\pm 1.4\pm 1.0 nb and \phi_{\rho\omega} = 113.5\pm 1.3\pm 1.7 degree.

The e+e- -> pi0 pi0 gamma process was studied in the SND experiment at VEPP-2M e+e- collider in the energy region 0.60-0.97 GeV. From the analysis of the energy dependence of measured cross section the branching ratios B(omega -> pi0 pi0 gamma)= (6.6 +1.4-0.8(stat) +-0.6(syst))x10^-5 and B(rho -> pi0 pi0 gamma)=(4.1 +1.0-0.9(stat) +-0.3(syst))x10^-5 were obtained.

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)%.