The cross section of the pure QED process e + e − → γγ has been measured using data accumulated during the 1989 and 1990 scans of the Z 0 resonance at LEP. Both the energy dependence and the angular distribution are in good agreement with the QED prediction. Upper limits on the branching ratios of Z 0 → γγ , Z 0 → π 0 γ and Z 0 → ηγ have been set at 1.4×10 −4 , 1.4×10 −4 and 2.0×10 −4 respectively. Lower limits on the cutoff parameters of the modified electron propagator have been found to be Λ + > 117 GeV and Λ − > 110 GeV. The reaction e + e − → γγγ has also been studied and was found to be consistent with the QED prediction. An upper limit on the branching ratio of Z 0 → γγγ has been set at 6.6 × 10 −5 . All the limits are given at 95% confidence level.

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 $|t|<0.5$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.

The pure QED reaction e + e − → γγ has been studied at centre of mass energies around the mass of the Z 0 boson using data recorded by the OPAL detector at LEP. The results are in good agreement with the QED prediction. Lower limits on the cutoff parameters of the modified electron propagator are found to be Λ + >89 GeV and Λ. The lower limit on the mass of an excited electron is 82 GeV assuming the coupling constant λ =1. Upper limits on the branching ratios of Z 0 → γγ , Z 0 → π 0 γ and Z 0 → ηγ are set at 3.7×10 −4 , 3.9×10 −4 and 5.8×10 −4 respectively. Two events from the reaction e + e − → γγγ have been observed, consistent with the QED prediction. An upper limit on the branching ratio of Z 0 → γγγ is set at 2.8×10 −4 . All the limits are given at 95% confidence level.

Dijet production by almost real photons has been studied at HERA with the ZEUS detector. Jets have been identified using the cone algorithm. A cut on xg, the fraction of the photon energy participating in the production of the two jets of highest transverse energy, is used to define cross sections sensitive to the parton distributions in the proton and in the photon. The dependence of the dijet cross sections on pseudorapidity has been measured for xg $\ge 0.75$ and xg $< 0.75$. The former is sensitive to the gluon momentum density in the proton. The latter is sensitive to the gluon in the photon. The cross sections are corrected for detector acceptance and compared to leading order QCD calculations.

Inclusive jet cross sections for events with a large rapidity gap with respect to the proton direction from the reaction $ep \rightarrow jet \; + \; X$ with quasi-real photons have been measured with the ZEUS detector. The cross sections refer to jets with transverse energies $E_T~{jet}>8$GeV. The data show the characteristics of a diffractive process mediated by pomeron exchange. Assuming that the events are due to the exchange of a pomeron with partonic structure, the quark and gluon content of the pomeron is probed at a scale $\sim (E_T~{jet})~2$. A comparison of the measurements with model predictions based on QCD plus Regge phenomenology requires a contribution of partons with a hard momentum density in the pomeron. A combined analysis of the jet cross sections and recent ZEUS measurements of the diffractive structure function in deep inelastic scattering gives the first experimental evidence for the gluon content of the pomeron in diffractive hard scattering processes. The data indicate that between 30\% and 80\% of the momentum of the pomeron carried by partons is due to hard gluons.

Inclusive jet differential cross sections for the reaction ep → jet + X at Q 2 below 4 GeV 2 have been measured with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 0.55 pb −1 . These cross sections are given in the kinematic region 0.2 < y < 0.85, for jet pseudorapidities in the ep -laboratory range −1 < η jet < 2 and refer to jets at the hadron level with a cone radius of one unit in the η - θ plane. These results correspond to quasi-real photoproduction at centre-of-mass energies in the range 130–270 GeV and, approximately, for jet pseudorapidities in the interval −3 < η jet ( λp CMS) < 0. These measurements cover a new kinematic regime of the partonic structure of the photon, at typical scales up to ∼300 GeV 2 and photon fractional momenta down to x γ ∼ 10 −2 . Leading logarithm parton shower Monte Carlo calculations, which include both resolved and direct processes and use the predictions of currently available parametrisations of the photon parton distributions, describe in general the shape and magnitude of the measured η jet and E t jet distributions.

From an analysis of multi-hadron events from Z 0 decays, values of the strong coupling constant α s ( M 2 Z 0 )=0.131±0.006 (exp)±0.002(theor.) and α s ( M z 0 2 ) = −0.009 +0.007 (exp.) −0.002 +0.006 (theor.) are derived from the energy-energy correlation distribution and its asymmetry, respectively, assuming the QCD renormalization scale μ = M Z 0 . The theoretical error accounts for differences between O ( α 2 s ) calculations. A two parameter fit Λ MS and the renormalization scale μ leads to Λ MS =216±85 MeV and μ 2 s =0.027±0.013 or to α s ( M 2 Z 0 )=0.117 +0.006 −0.008 (exp.) for the energy-energy correlation distribution. The energy-energy correlation asymmetry distribution is insensitive to a scale change: thus the α s value quoted above for this variable includes the theoretical uncertainty associated with the renormalization scale.

Diffractive scattering of $\gamma~* p \to X + N$, where $N$ is either a proton or a nucleonic system with $M_N<4$GeV has been measured in deep inelastic scattering (DIS) at HERA. The cross section was determined by a novel method as a function of the $\gamma~* p$ c.m. energy $W$ between 60 and 245GeV and of the mass $M_X$ of the system $X$ up to 15GeV at average $Q~2$ values of 14 and 31GeV$~2$. The diffractive cross section $d\sigma~{diff} /dM_X$ is, within errors, found to rise linearly with $W$. Parameterizing the $W$ dependence by the form $d\sigma~{diff}/dM_X \propto (W~2)~{(2\overline{\mbox{$\alpha_{_{I\hspace{-0.2em}P}}$}} -2)}$ the DIS data yield for the pomeron trajectory $\overline{\mbox{$\alpha_{_{I\hspace{-0.2em}P}}$}} = 1.23 \pm 0.02(stat) \pm 0.04 (syst)$ averaged over $t$ in the measured kinematic range assuming the longitudinal photon contribution to be zero. This value for the pomeron trajectory is substantially larger than $\overline{\mbox{$\alpha_{_{I\hspace{-0.2em}P}}$}}$ extracted from soft interactions. The value of $\overline{\mbox{$\alpha_{_{I\hspace{-0.2em}P}}$}}$ measured in this analysis suggests that a substantial part of the diffractive DIS cross section originates from processes which can be described by perturbative QCD. From the measured diffractive cross sections the diffractive structure function of the proton $F~{D(3)}_2(\beta,Q~2, \mbox{$x_{_{I\hspace{-0.2em}P}}$})$ has been determined, where $\beta$ is the momentum fraction of the struck quark in the pomeron. The form $F~{D(3)}_2 = constant \cdot (1/ \mbox{$x_{_{I\hspace{-0.2em}P}}$})~a$ gives a good fit to the data in all $\beta$ and $Q~2$ intervals with $a = 1.46 \pm 0.04 (stat) \pm

Deep inelastic $e~-p$ scattering has been studied in both the charged-current (CC) and neutral-current (NC) reactions at momentum transfers squared, $Q~2$, between 400 GeV$~2$ and the kinematic limit of 87500 GeV$~2$ using the ZEUS detector at the HERA $ep$ collider. The CC and NC total cross sections, the NC to CC cross section ratio, and the differential cross sections, $ d\sigma/dQ~2 $, are presented. For $Q~2 \simeq M_W~2$, where $M_W$ is the mass of the $W$ boson, the CC and NC cross sections have comparable magnitudes, demonstrating the equal strengths of the weak and electromagnetic interactions at high $Q~2$. The $Q~2$ dependence of the CC cross section determines the mass term in the CC propagator to be $M_{W} = 76 \pm 16 \pm 13$GeV.

Photoproduction events which have two or more jets have been studied in the $W_{\gamma p}$ range 135GeV $< W_{\gamma p} <$ 280GeV with the ZEUS detector at HERA. A class of events is observed with little hadronic activity between the jets. The jets are separated by pseudorapidity intervals ($\Delta\eta$) of up to four units and have transverse energies greater than 6GeV. A gap is defined as the absence between the jets of particles with transverse energy greater than 300MeV. The fraction of events containing a gap is measured as a function of \deta. It decreases exponentially as expected for processes in which colour is exchanged between the jets, up to a value of $\Delta\eta \sim 3$, then reaches a constant value of about 0.1. The excess above the exponential fall-off can be interpreted as evidence for hard diffractive scattering via a strongly interacting colour singlet object.