Exclusive rho rho production in two-photon collisions involving a single highly virtual photon is studied with data collected at LEP at centre-of-mass energies 89GeV < \sqrt{s} < 209GeV with a total integrated luminosity of 854.7pb^-1 The cross section of the process gamma gamma^* -> rho rho is determined as a function of the photon virtuality, Q^2 and the two-photon centre-of-mass energy, Wgg, in the kinematic region: 1.2GeV^2 < Q^2 < 30GeV^2 and 1.1GeV < Wgg < 3GeV.

Cross sections for the production of two isolated muons up to high di-muon masses are measured in ep collisions at HERA with the H1 detector in a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 71 pb^-1 at a centre of mass energy of sqrt{s} = 319 GeV. The results are in good agreement with Standard Model predictions, the dominant process being photon-photon interactions. Additional muons or electrons are searched for in events with two high transverse momentum muons using the full data sample corresponding to 114 pb^-1, where data at sqrt{s} = 301 GeV and sqrt{s} = 319 GeV are combined. Both the di-lepton sample and the tri-lepton sample agree well with the predictions.

$K^0_SK^0_S$ production in two-photon collisions has been studied using a 397.6 fb$^{-1}$ data sample collected with the Belle detector at the KEKB $e^+e^-$ collider. For the first time the cross sections are measured in the two-photon center-of-mass energy range between 2.4 GeV and 4.0 GeV and angular range $|\cos\theta^*|<0.6$. Combining the results with measurements of $\gamma\gamma\to K^+K^-$ from Belle, we observe that the cross section ratio $\sigma(K^0_SK^0_S)/\sigma(K^+K^-)$ decreases from ~0.13 to ~0.01 with increasing energy. Signals for the $\chi_{c0}$ and $\chi_{c2}$ charmonium states are also observed.

The electroproduction of rho mesons with proton diffractive dissociation for Q^2 > 7 GeV^2 and the elastic electroproduction of Phi mesons for Q^2 > 6 Gev^2 are studied in e^+ p collisions at HERA with the H1 detector, for an integrated luminosity of 2.8 pb-1. The dependence of the cross sections on P_t^2 and Q^2 is measured, and the vector meson polarisation obtained. The cross section ratio between proton dissociative and elastic production of rho mesons is measured and discussed in the framework of the factorisation hypothesis of diffractive vertices. The ratio of the elastic cross section for Phi and rho meson production is investigated as a function of Q^2.

The reaction e+e−→e+e−π0π0 has been analyzed using 97 pb−1 of data taken with the Crystal Ball detector at the DESY e−e+ storage ring DORIS II at beam energies around 5.3 GeV. For the first time we have measured the cross section for γγ→π0π0 for π0π0 mvariant masses ranging from threshold to about 2 GeV. We measure an approximately flat cross section of about 10 nb for W=mπ0π0<0.8 GeV, which is below 0.6 GeV, in good agreement with a theoretical prediction based on an unitarized Born-term model. At higher invariant masses we observe formation of the f2(1270) resonance and a hint of the f0(975). We deduce the following two-photon widths: Γγγ(f2(1270))=3.19±0.16±0.280.29 keV and Γγγ(f0(975))<0.53 keV at 90% C.L. The decay-angular distributions show the π0π0 system to be dominantly spin 0 for W<0.7 GeV and spin 2, helicity 2 in the f2(1270) region, with helicity 0 contributing at most 22% (90% C.L.).

A thrust analysis of Large-Rapidity-Gap events in deep-inelastic ep collisions is presented, using data taken with the H1 detector at HERA in 1994. The average thrust of the final states X, which emerge from the dissociation of virtual photons in the range 10 < Q2 < 100 GeV2, grows with hadronic mass M_X and implies a dominant 2-jet topology. Thrust is found to decrease with growing Pt, the thrust jet momentum transverse to the photon-proton collision axis. Distributions of Pt2 are consistent with being independent of MX. They show a strong alignment of the thrust axis with the photon-proton collision axis, and have a large high-Pt tail. The correlation of thrust with MX is similar to that in e+e- annihilation at sqrt(see)=MX, but with lower values of thrust in the ep data. The data cannot be described by interpreting the dissociated system X as a qqbar state but inclusion of a substantial fraction of qqbarg parton configurations leads naturally to the observed properties. The soft colour exchange interaction model does not describe the data.

We report measurements of the two-photon processes e+e−→e+e−π+π− and e+e−→e+e−K+K−, at an e+e− center-of-mass energy of 29 GeV. In the π+π− data a high-statistics analysis of the f(1270) results in a γγ width Γ(γγ→f)=3.2±0.4 keV. The π+π− continuum below the f mass is well described by a QED Born approximation, whereas above the f mass it is consistent with a QCD-model calculation if a large contribution from the f is assumed. For the K+K− data we find agreement of the high-mass continuum with the QCD prediction; limits on f′(1520) and θ(1720) formation are presented.

We report a high-statistics measurement of differential cross sections for the process gamma gamma -> pi^0 pi^0 in the kinematic range 0.6 GeV <= W <= 4.0 GeV and |cos theta*| <= 0.8, where W and theta* are the energy and pion scattering angle, respectively, in the gamma gamma center-of-mass system. Differential cross sections are fitted to obtain information on S, D_0, D_2, G_0 and G_2 waves. The G waves are important above W ~= 1.6 GeV. For W <= 1.6 GeV the D_2 wave is dominated by the f_2(1270) resonance while the S wave requires at least one additional resonance besides the f_0(980), which may be the f_0(1370) or f_0(1500). The differential cross sections are fitted with a simple parameterization to determine the parameters (the mass, total width and Gamma_{gamma gamma}B(f_0 -> pi^0 pi^0)) of this scalar meson as well as the f_0(980). The helicity 0 fraction of the f_2(1270) meson, taking into account interference for the first time, is also obtained.

Three-jet production in deep inelastic ep scattering and photoproduction was investigated with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 127 pb-1. Measurements of differential cross sections are presented as functions of angular correlations between the three jets in the final state and the proton-beam direction. These correlations provide a stringent test of perturbative QCD and show sensitivity to the contributions from different colour configurations. Fixed-order perturbative QCD calculations assuming the values of the colour factors C_F, C_A and T_F as derived from a variety of gauge groups were compared to the measurements to study the underlying gauge group symmetry. The measured angular correlations in the deep inelastic ep scattering and photoproduction regimes are consistent with the admixture of colour configurations as predicted by SU(3) and disfavour other symmetry groups, such as SU(N) in the limit of large N.

The differential cross section for the process $\gamma \gamma \to \eta \pi^0$ has been measured in the kinematic range $0.84 \GeV < W < 4.0 \GeV$, $|\cos \theta^*|<0.8$, where $W$ and $\theta^*$ are the energy and $\pi^0$ (or $\eta$) scattering angle, respectively, in the $\gamma\gamma$ center-of-mass system. The results are based on a 223 fb$^{-1}$ data sample collected with the Belle detector at the KEKB $e^+ e^-$ collider. Clear peaks due to the $a_0(980)$ and $a_2(1320)$ are visible. The differential cross sections are fitted in the energy region $0.9 \GeV < W < 1.46 \GeV$ to obtain the parameters of the $a_0(980)$. Its mass, width and $\Gamma_{\gamma \gamma} \B (\eta \pi^0)$ are measured to be $982.3 ^{+0.6}_{-0.7} ^{+3.1}_{-4.7} \MeV/c^2$, $75.6 \pm 1.6 ^{+17.4}_{-10.0} \MeV$ and $128 ^{+3}_{-2} ^{+502}_{-43} \eV$, respectively. The energy and angular dependences above 3.1 GeV are compared with those measured in the $\pi^0 \pi^0$ channel. The integrated cross section over $|\cos \theta^*|<0.8$ has a $W^{-n}$ dependence with $n = 10.5 \pm 1.2 \pm 0.5$, which is slightly larger than that for $\pi^0 \pi^0$. The differential cross sections show a $\sin^{-4} \theta^*$ dependence similar to $\gamma \gamma \to \pi^0 \pi^0$. The measured cross section ratio, $\sigma(\eta \pi^0)/\sigma(\pi^0 \pi^0) = 0.48 \pm 0.05 \pm 0.04$, is consistent with a QCD-based prediction.