This paper reports measurements of processes: e+e- -> gamma KsK+pi-, e+e- -> gamma K+K-pi0, e+e- -> gamma phi eta, and e+e- -> gamma phi pi0. The initial state radiated photon allows to cover the hadronic final state in the energy range from thresholds up to ~4.6 GeV. The overall size of the data sample analyzed is 232 fb-1, collected by the BaBar detector running at the PEP-II e+e- storage ring. From the Dalitz plot analysis of the KsK+pi- final state, moduli and relative phase of the isoscalar and the isovector components of the e+e- -> K K*(892) cross section are determined. Parameters of phi and rho recurrences are also measured, using a global fitting procedure which exploits the interconnection among amplitudes, moduli and phases of the e+e- -> KsK+pi-, K+K-pi0, phi eta final states. The cross section for the OZI-forbidden process e+e- -> phi pi0, and the J/psi branching fractions to KK*(892) and K+K-eta are also measured.

We study the processes $e^+ e^-\to 2(\pi^+\pi^-)\pi^0\gamma$, $2(\pi^+\pi^-)\eta\gamma$, $K^+ K^-\pi^+\pi^-\pi^0\gamma$ and $K^+ K^-\pi^+\pi^-\eta\gamma$ with the hard photon radiated from the initial state. About 20000, 4300, 5500 and 375 fully reconstructed events, respectively, are selected from 232 fb$^{-1}$ of BaBar data. The invariant mass of the hadronic final state defines the effective $e^+ e^-$ center-of-mass energy, so that the obtained cross sections from the threshold to about 5 GeV can be compared with corresponding direct \epem measurements, currently available only for the $\eta\pi^+\pi^-$ and $\omega\pi^+\pi^-$ submodes of the $e^+ e^-\to 2(\pi^+\pi^-)\pi^0$ channel. Studying the structure of these events, we find contributions from a number of intermediate states, and we extract their cross sections where possible. In particular, we isolate the contribution from $e^+ e^-\to\omega(782)\pi^+\pi^-$ and study the $\omega(1420)$ and $\omega(1650)$ resonances. In the charmonium region, we observe the $J/\psi$ in all these final states and several intermediate states, as well as the $\psi(2S)$ in some modes, and we measure the corresponding branching fractions.

We report on a high statistics measurement of the total and differential cross sections of the process gamma gamma -> pi^+ pi^- in the pi^+ pi^- invariant mass range 0.8 GeV/c^2 < W < 1.5 GeV/c^2 with 85.9 fb^{-1} of data collected at sqrt{s}=10.58 GeV and 10.52 GeV with the Belle detector. A clear signal of the f_0(980) resonance is observed in addition to the f_2(1270) resonance. An improved 90% confidence level upper limit Br.(eta'(958) -> pi^+ pi^-) < 2.9 x 10^{-3} is obtained for P- and CP-violating decay of the eta'(958) meson using the most conservative assumption about the interference with the background.

We present measurements of the total production rates and momentum distributions of the charmed baryon $\Lambda_c^+$ in $e^+e^- \to$ hadrons at a center-of-mass energy of 10.54 GeV and in $\Upsilon(4S)$ decays. In hadronic events at 10.54 GeV, charmed hadrons are almost exclusively leading particles in $e^+e^- \to c\bar{c}$ events, allowing direct studies of $c$-quark fragmentation. We measure a momentum distribution for $\Lambda_c^+$ baryons that differs significantly from those measured previously for charmed mesons. Comparing with a number of models, we find none that can describe the distribution completely. We measure an average scaled momentum of $\left< x_p \right> = 0.574\pm$0.009 and a total rate of $N_{\Lambda c}^{q\bar{q}} = 0.057\pm$0.002(exp.)$\pm$0.015(BF) $\Lambda_c^+$ per hadronic event, where the experimental error is much smaller than that due to the branching fraction into the reconstructed decay mode, $pK^-\pi^+$. In $\Upsilon (4S)$ decays we measure a total rate of $N_{\Lambda c}^{\Upsilon} = 0.091\pm$0.006(exp.)$\pm$0.024(BF) per $\Upsilon(4S)$ decay, and find a much softer momentum distribution than expected from B decays into a $\Lambda_c^+$ plus an antinucleon and one to three pions.

The cross section for the process $e^+e^-\to\pi^+\pi^-$ is measured in the c.m. energy range 1.04-1.38 GeV from 995 000 selected collinear events including 860000 $e^+e^-$ events, 82000 $\mu^+\mu^-$ events, and 33000 $\pi^+\pi^-$ events. The systematic and statistical errors of measuring the pion form factor are equal to 1.2-4.2 and 5-13%, respectively.

We study the processes e+ e- --> 3(pi+pi-)gamma, 2(pi+pi-pi0)gamma and K+ K- 2(pi+pi-)gamma, with the photon radiated from the initial state. About 20,000, 33,000 and 4,000 fully reconstructed events, respectively, have been selected from 232 fb-1 of BaBar data. The invariant mass of the hadronic final state defines the effective e+e- center-of-mass energy, so that these data can be compared with the corresponding direct e+e- measurements. From the 3(pi+pi-), 2(pi+pi-pi0) and K+ K- 2(pi+pi-) mass spectra, the cross sections for the processes e+ e- --> 3(pi+pi-), e+ e- --> 2(pi+pi-pi0) and e+ e- --> K+ K- 2(pi+pi-) are measured for center-of-mass energies from production threshold to 4.5 GeV. The uncertainty in the cross section measurement is typically 6-15%. We observe the J/psi in all these final states and measure the corresponding branching fractions.

The reactions gamma gamma -> pi^+pi^-pi^+pi^- and gamma gamma -> pi^+pi^0pi^-pi^0 are studied with the L3 detector at LEP in a data sample collected at centre-of-mass energies from 161GeV to 209GeV with a total integrated luminosity of 698/pb. A spin-parity-helicity analysis of the rho^0 rho^0 and rho^+ rho^- systems for two-photon centre-of-mass energies between 1GeV and 3GeV shows the dominance of the spin-parity state 2+ with helicity 2. The contribution of 0+ and 0- spin-parity states is also observed, whereas contributions of 2- states and of a state with spin-parity 2+ and zero helicity are found to be negligible.

The polarized longitudinal-transverse structure function $\sigma_{LT^\prime}$ measures the interference between real and imaginary amplitudes in pion electroproduction and can be used to probe the coupling between resonant and non-resonant processes. We report new measurements of $\sigma_{LT^\prime}$ in the $N(1440){1/2}^+$ (Roper) resonance region at $Q^2=0.40$ and 0.65 GeV$^2$ for both the $\pi^0 p$ and $\pi^+ n$ channels. The experiment was performed at Jefferson Lab with the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer (CLAS) using longitudinally polarized electrons at a beam energy of 1.515 GeV. Complete angular distributions were obtained and are compared to recent phenomenological models. The $\sigma_{LT^\prime}(\pi^+ n)$ channel shows a large sensitivity to the Roper resonance multipoles $M_{1-}$ and $S_{1-}$ and provides new constraints on models of resonance formation.

The reaction gamma p --> K0 Sigma+ was measured in the photon energy range from threshold up to 2.6 GeV with the SAPHIR detector at the electron stretcher facility, ELSA, in Bonn. Results are presented on the reaction cross section and the polarization of the Sigma+ as a function of the kaon production angle in the centre-of-mass system, cos(Theta_K^{c.m.}), and the photon energy. The cross section is lower and varies less with photon energy and kaon production angle than that of gamma p --> K+ Sigma0. The Sigma+ is polarized predominantly at cos(Theta_K^{c.m.}) \approx 0. The data presented here are more precise than previous ones obtained with SAPHIR and extend the photon energy range to higher values. They are compared to isobar model calculations.

We study the process $e^+e^-\to\pi^+\pi^-\pi^+\pi^-\gamma$, with a hard photon radiated from the initial state. About 60,000 fully reconstructed events have been selected from 89 $fb^{-1}$ of BaBar data. The invariant mass of the hadronic final state defines the effective \epem center-of-mass energy, so that these data can be compared with the corresponding direct $e^+e^-$ measurements. From the $4\pi$-mass spectrum, the cross section for the process $e^+e^-\to\pi^+\pi^-\pi^+\pi^-$ is measured for center-of-mass energies from 0.6 to 4.5 $GeV/c^2$. The uncertainty in the cross section measurement is typically 5%. We also measure the cross sections for the final states $K^+ K^- \pi^+\pi^-$ and $K^+ K^- K^+ K^-$. We observe the $J/\psi$ in all three final states and measure the corresponding branching fractions. We search for X(3872) in $J/\psi (\to\mu^+\mu^-) \pi^+\pi^-$ and obtain an upper limit on the product of the $e^+e^-$ width of the X(3872) and the branching fraction for $X(3872) \to J/\psi\pi^+\pi^-$.