We report a measurement of the reaction γγ→K+K−π+π− in both tagged and untagged events at PEP. The cross section rises with invariant γγ mass to about 15 nb at 2 GeV and falls slowly at higher masses. We find clear evidence for the processes γγ→φπ+π− and γγ→K*0(892)Kπ. Upper limits (95% C.L.) of 1.5 and 5.7 nb in the mass range from 1.7 to 3.7 GeV are obtained for φρ0 and K*0K¯*0 production, respectively.

The two-photon production of the η meson has been observed, and a value has been determined for the two-photon η decay width by a measurement of the cross section σ(e+e−→e+e−η) where η→γγ. The measurement was made with the TPC/Two-Gamma facility at the SLAC e+e− collider PEP, with an accumulated data sample of 64.5 pb−1. The η→γγ events were both triggered and detected by the pole-tip calorimeter. The measured two-photon η decay width is Γη→γγ=0.64±0.14 (statistical) ±0.13 (systematic) keV, in agreement with earlier similarly determined values.

The number of charged particles inside jets is a widely used discriminant for identifying the quark or gluon nature of the initiating parton and is sensitive to both the perturbative and non-perturbative components of fragmentation. This paper presents a measurement of the average number of charged particles with $p_\text{T}>500$ MeV inside high-momentum jets in dijet events using 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ of data recorded with the ATLAS detector in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV collisions at the LHC. The jets considered have transverse momenta from 50 GeV up to and beyond 1.5 TeV. The reconstructed charged-particle track multiplicity distribution is unfolded to remove distortions from detector effects and the resulting charged-particle multiplicity is compared to several models. Furthermore, quark and gluon jet fractions are used to extract the average charged-particle multiplicity for quark and gluon jets separately.

This paper presents a search for massive charged long-lived particles produced in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}=$ 13 TeV at the LHC using the ATLAS experiment. The dataset used corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 3.2 fb$^{-1}$. Many extensions of the Standard Model predict the existence of massive charged long-lived particles, such as $R$-hadrons. These massive particles are expected to be produced with a velocity significantly below the speed of light, and therefore to have a specific ionization higher than any Standard Model particle of unit charge at high momenta. The Pixel subsystem of the ATLAS detector is used to measure the ionization energy loss of reconstructed charged particles and to search for such highly ionizing particles. The search presented here has much greater sensitivity than a similar search performed using the ATLAS detector in the $\sqrt{s}=$ 8 TeV dataset, thanks to the increase in expected signal cross-section due to the higher center-of-mass energy of collisions, to an upgraded detector with a new silicon layer close to the interaction point, and to analysis improvements. No significant deviation from Standard Model background expectations is observed, and lifetime-dependent upper limits on $R$-hadron production cross-sections and masses are set. Gluino $R$-hadrons with lifetimes above 0.4 ns and decaying to $q\bar{q}$ plus a 100 GeV neutralino are excluded at the 95% confidence level, with lower mass limit ranging between 740 GeV and 1590 GeV. In the case of stable $R$-hadrons the lower mass limit at the 95% confidence level is 1570 GeV.

This paper presents measurements of $W^\pm Z$ production in $pp$ collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV. The gauge bosons are reconstructed using their leptonic decay modes into electrons and muons. The data were collected in 2012 by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb$^{-1}$. The measured inclusive cross section in the detector fiducial region is $\sigma_{W^\pm Z \rightarrow \ell^{'} \nu\ \ell \ell} = 35.1 \pm$ 0.9 (stat.) $\pm 0.8$ (sys.) $\pm 0.8$ (lumi.) fb, for one leptonic decay channel. In comparison, the next-to-leading-order Standard Model expectation is 30.0 $\pm$ 2.1 fb. Cross sections for $W^+Z$ and $W^-Z$ production and their ratio are presented as well as differential cross sections for several kinematic observables. Limits on anomalous triple gauge boson couplings are derived from the transverse mass spectrum of the $W^\pm Z$ system. From the analysis of events with a $W$ and a $Z$ boson associated with two or more forward jets an upper limit at 95% confidence level on the $W^\pm Z$ scattering cross section of 0.63 fb, for each leptonic decay channel, is established, while the Standard Model prediction at next-to-leading order is 0.13 fb. Limits on anomalous quartic gauge boson couplings are also extracted.

Searches for exclusively produced $W$ boson pairs in the process $pp(\gamma\gamma) \rightarrow pW^+W^-p$ and exclusively produced Higgs boson in the process $pp(gg) \rightarrow pHp$ have been performed using $e^{\pm}\mu^{\mp}$ final states. These measurements use 20.2 fb$^{-1}$ of $pp$ collisions collected by the ATLAS experiment at a center-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV at the LHC. Exclusive production of $W^+W^-$ consistent with the Standard Model prediction is found with 3.0$\sigma$ significance. The exclusive $W^+W^-$ production cross-section is determined to be $\sigma (\gamma\gamma\rightarrow W^{+}W^{-}\rightarrow e^{\pm}\mu^{\mp} X) = 6.9 \pm 2.2 (\mathrm{stat.}) \pm 1.4 (\mathrm{sys.})$ fb, in agreement with the Standard Model prediction. Limits on anomalous quartic gauge couplings are set at 95\% confidence-level as $-1.7 \times 10^{-6} < a_0^W/\Lambda^2 < 1.7 \times 10^{-6}$ GeV$^{-2}$and $-6.4 \times 10^{-6} < a_C^W/\Lambda^2 < 6.3 \times 10^{-6}$ GeV$^{-2}$. A 95\% confidence-level upper limit on the total production cross-section for exclusive Higgs boson is set to 1.2 pb.

A search for supersymmetry in events with large missing transverse momentum, jets, and at least one hadronically decaying tau lepton has been performed using 3.2 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collision data at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider in 2015. Two exclusive final states are considered, with either exactly one or at least two tau leptons. No excess over the Standard Model prediction is observed in the data. Results are interpreted in the context of gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking and a simplified model of gluino pair production with tau-rich cascade decays, substantially improving on previous limits. In the GMSB model considered, supersymmetry-breaking scale ($\Lambda$) values below 92 TeV are excluded at the 95% confidence level, corresponding to gluino masses below 2000 GeV. For large values of $\tan\beta$, values of $\Lambda$ up to 107 TeV and gluino masses up to 2300 GeV are excluded. In the simplified model, gluino masses are excluded up to 1570 GeV for neutralino masses around 100 GeV. Neutralino masses up to 700 GeV are excluded for all gluino masses between 800 GeV and 1500 GeV, while the strongest exclusion of 750 GeV is achieved for gluino masses around 1400 GeV.

A search for heavy neutral Higgs bosons and $Z^{\prime}$ bosons is performed using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb$^{-1}$ from proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC during 2015 and 2016. The heavy resonance is assumed to decay to $\tau^+\tau^-$ with at least one tau lepton decaying to final states with hadrons and a neutrino. The search is performed in the mass range of 0.2-2.25 TeV for Higgs bosons and 0.2-4.0 TeV for $Z^{\prime}$ bosons. The data are in good agreement with the background predicted by the Standard Model. The results are interpreted in benchmark scenarios. In the context of the hMSSM scenario, the data exclude $\tan\beta > 1.0$ for $m_A$ = 0.25 TeV and $\tan\beta > 42$ for $m_A$ = 1.5 TeV at the 95% confidence level. For the Sequential Standard Model, $Z^{\prime}_\mathrm{SSM}$ with $m_{Z^{\prime}} < 2.42$ TeV is excluded at 95% confidence level, while $Z^{\prime}_\mathrm{NU}$ with $m_{Z^{\prime}} < 2.25$ TeV is excluded for the non-universal $G(221)$ model that exhibits enhanced couplings to third-generation fermions.

Measurements are presented of single and double-differential dijet cross sections in diffractive photoproduction based on a data sample with an integrated luminosity of 47 pb^-1. The events are of the type ep -> eXY, where the hadronic system X contains at least two jets and is separated by a large rapidity gap from the system Y, which consists of a leading proton or low-mass proton excitation. The dijet cross sections are compared with QCD calculations at next-to-leading order and with a Monte Carlo model based on leading order matrix elements with parton showers. The measured cross sections are smaller than those obtained from the next-to-leading order calculations by a factor of about 0.6. This suppression factor has no significant dependence on the fraction x_gamma of the photon four-momentum entering the hard subprocess. Ratios of the diffractive to the inclusive dijet cross sections are measured for the first time and are compared with Monte Carlo models.

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.

This paper presents experimental results on π + π − production threshold from the collision of quasi-real photons. The data, obtained at the e + e − collider DCI, are a combination of the results from the DM1 and DM2 experiments. Using the e + e − and π + π − production for normalization and cross-checks, we observe a pion pair yield at low invariant mass ( W < 500 MeV/ c 2 ) which is approximately twice the one expected from Born terms.

Production of proton-antiproton pairs by two-photon scattering has been observed at the electron-position storage ring PETRA. A total of eight proton-antiproton pairs have been identified using the time-of-flight technique. We have measured a total cross section of 4.5 ± 0.8 nb in the photon-photon c.m. energy range 2.0–2.6 GeV.

The production of charged kaon pairs in two-photon interactions has been studied with the ARGUS detector and the topological cross section has been measured. The γγ-widths and interference parameters have been determined for the tensor mesonsf2 (1270),a2 (1318) andf′2 (1525). The helicity structure assumed for the continuum contribution has a significant effect on the result. Upper limits have been obtained for the γγ-widths of the glueball candidate statesf2 (1720) andX (2230).

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.

We have searched for exclusive 2-photon production in proton-antiproton collisions at sqrt{s} = 1.96 TeV, using 532/pb of integrated luminosity taken by the Run II Collider Detector at Fermilab. The event signature requires two electromagnetic showers, each with transverse energy E_T > 5 GeV and pseudorapidity |eta|&lt;1.0, with no other particles detected in the event. Three candidate events are observed. We discuss the consistency of the three events with gamma-gamma, pi0-pi0, or eta-eta production. The probability that other processes fluctuate to 3 events or more is 1.7x10^-4. An upper limit on the cross section of p+pbar --> p+gamma-gamma+pbar is set at 410 fb with 95% confidence level.

We report on the results of the study of e + e − collisions at the highest PETRA energy of √ s = 31.57 GeV, using the 4π sr, electromagnetic and calorimetric detector Mark J. Based on 88 hadron events, and an integrated luminosity of 243 nb −1 we obtain R = σ (e + e − → hadrons)/ σ (e + e − → μ + μ − ) = 4.0 ± 0.5 (statistical) ± 6 (systematic). The R value, the measured thrust distribution and average spherocity show no evidence for the production of new quark flavors.

Results are presented on the exclusive production of four-prong final states in photon-photon collisions from the TPC/Two-Gamma detector at the SLAC e+e− storage ring PEP. Measurement of dE/dx and momentum in the time-projection chamber (TPC) provides identification of the final states 2π+2π−, K+K−π+π−, and 2K+2K−. For two quasireal incident photons, both the 2π+2π− and K+K−π+π− cross sections show a steep rise from threshold to a peak value, followed by a decrease at higher mass. Cross sections for the production of the final states ρ0ρ0, ρ0π+π−, and φπ+π− are presented, together with upper limits for φρ0, φφ, and K*0K¯ *0. The ρ0ρ0 contribution dominates the four-pion cross section at low masses, but falls to nearly zero above 2 GeV. Such behavior is inconsistent with expectations from vector dominance but can be accommodated by four-quark resonance models or by t-channel factorization. Angular distributions for the part of the data dominated by ρ0ρ0 final states are consistent with the production of JP=2+ or 0+ resonances but also with isotropic (nonresonant) production. When one of the virtual photons has mass (mγ2=-Q2≠0), the four-pion cross section is still dominated by ρ0ρ0 at low final-state masses Wγγ and by 2π+2π− at higher mass. Further, the dependence of the cross section on Q2 becomes increasingly flat as Wγγ increases.

We present the first observation of exclusive $e^+e^-$ production in hadron-hadron collisions, using $p\bar{p}$ collision data at \mbox{$\sqrt{s}=1.96$ TeV} taken by the Run II Collider Detector at Fermilab, and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of \mbox{532 pb$^{-1}$}. We require the absence of any particle signatures in the detector except for an electron and a positron candidate, each with transverse energy {$E_T>5$ GeV} and pseudorapidity {$|\eta|<2$}. With these criteria, 16 events are observed compared to a background expectation of {$1.9\pm0.3$} events. These events are consistent in cross section and properties with the QED process \mbox{$p\bar{p} \to p + e^+e^- + \bar{p}$} through two-photon exchange. The measured cross section is \mbox{$1.6^{+0.5}_{-0.3}\mathrm{(stat)}\pm0.3\mathrm{(syst)}$ pb}. This agrees with the theoretical prediction of {$1.71 \pm 0.01$ pb}.

The WA94 experiment uses the production of strange particles and antiparticles to investigate the properties of hot hadronic matter created in heavy-ion interactions. Λ, Λ , Ξ − and Ξ + particle yields and transverse mass spectra are presented for pS interactions. These results are compared with those from SS interactions. Our results are also compared with those from pW and SW interactions of the WA85 experiment.

We present the final results from Experiment 864 of a search for charged and neutral strange quark matter produced in interactions of 11.5 GeV/c per nucleon Au beams with Pt or Pb targets. Searches were made for strange quark matter with A&gt;4. Approximately 30 billion 10% most central collisions were sampled and no strangelet states with A&lt;100 were observed. We find 90% confidence level upper limits of approximately 10^{-8} per central collision for both charged and neutral strangelets. These limits are for strangelets with proper lifetimes greater than 50 ns. Also limits for H^{0}-d and pineut production are given. The above limits are compared with the predictions of various models. The yields of light nuclei from coalescence are measured and a penalty factor for the addition of one nucleon to the coalescing nucleus is determined. This is useful in gauging the significance of our upper limits and also in planning future searches for strange quark matter.

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.

A measurement is presented of dijet and 3-jet cross sections in low-|t| diffractive deep-inelastic scattering interactions of the type ep -> eXY, where the system X is separated by a large rapidity gap from a low-mass baryonic system Y. Data taken with the H1 detector at HERA, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 18.0 pb^(-1), are used to measure hadron level single and double differential cross sections for 4<Q^2<80 GeV^2, x_pom<0.05 and p_(T,jet)>4 GeV. The energy flow not attributed to jets is also investigated. The measurements are consistent with a factorising diffractive exchange with trajectory intercept close to 1.2 and tightly constrain the dominating diffractive gluon distribution. Viewed in terms of the diffractive scattering of partonic fluctuations of the photon, the data require the dominance of qqbarg over qqbar states. Soft colour neutralisation models in their present form cannot simultaneously reproduce the shapes and the normalisations of the differential cross sections. Models based on 2-gluon exchange are able to reproduce the shapes of the cross sections at low x_pom values.

The reaction e + e − → e + e − γ ∗ γ ∗ → e + e − hadrons is analysed using data collected by the L3 detector during the LEP runs at s = 130−140 GeV and s = 161 GeV . The cross sections σ(e + e − → e + e − hadrons) and σ(γγ → hadrons) are measured in the interval 5 ≤ W γγ ≤ 75 GeV. The energy dependence of the σ(γγ → hadrons) cross section is consistent with the universal Regge behaviour of total hadronic cross sections.

The formation of the η ′ in the reaction e + e − →e + e − η ′→e + e − π + π − γ has been measured by the L3 detector at a centre-of-mass energy of 91 GeV . The radiative width of the η ′ has been found to be Γ γγ =4.17±0.10 (stat.) ±0.27 (sys.) keV . The Q 2 dependence of the η ′ formation cross section has been measured for Q 2 ≤10 GeV 2 and the η ′ electromagnetic transition form factor has been determined. The form factor can be parametrised by a pole form with Λ=0.900±0.046 (stat.) ±0.022 (sys.) GeV . It is also consistent with recent non-perturbative QCD calculations.

The production of W-pairs is analysed in a data sample collected by ALEPH at a mean centre-of-mass energy of 188.6 GeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 174.2 pb^-1. Cross sections are given for different topologies of W decays into leptons or hadrons. Combining all final states and assuming Standard Model branching fractions, the total W-pair cross section is measured to be 15.71 +- 0.34 (stat) +- 0.18 (syst) pb. Using also the W-pair data samples collected by ALEPH at lower centre-of-mass energies, the decay branching fraction of the W boson into hadrons is measured to be BR (W > hadrons) = 66.97 +- 0.65 (stat) +- 0.32 (syst) %, allowing a determination of the CKM matrix element |V(cs)|= 0.951 +- 0.030 (stat) +- 0.015 (syst).

We report a measurement of the e+e−→e+e−pp¯π+π− process with the TPC/Two-Gamma facility at the PEP e+e− storage ring at SLAC. Forty-five pp¯π+π− events were identified in data corresponding to an integrated e+e− luminosity of 142 pb−1. The cross section for γγ→pp¯π+π− is given both as a function of the γγ center-of-mass energy Wγγ, with Wγγ between 2.5 and 5.5 GeV, and as a function of the in variant mass squared q2 of one of the photons, with −q2<7 GeV2. This cross section falls much less rapidly with Wγγ than does the cross section for a similar process, γγ→pp¯. No Δ0Δ¯0 production is observed, and only a small fraction of the events at low Wγγ is consistent with γγ→Δ++Δ¯−−, Δ++p¯π−, or Δ¯−−pπ+. In an expanded search through the same data, four events compatible with either ΛΛ¯(Λ→pπ−) or Σ0Λ¯(Σ0→Λγ) production were found.

The inclusive production of D$^{*\pm}$ mesons in two-photon collisions is measured with the ALEPH detector at $\epem$ centre-of-mass energies from 183$\unit{GeV}$ to 209$\unit{GeV}$. A total of $360 \pm 27$ D$^{*\pm}$ meson events were observed from an integrated luminosity of 699\unit{pb^{-1}}$. Contributions from direct and single-resolved rocesses are separated using the ratio of the transverse momentum $p_{\rm t}^{\rm D^{*\pm}}$ of the D$^{*\pm}$ to the visible invariant mass $W_{\mathrm{vis}}$ of the event. Differential cross sections of D$^{*\pm}$ production as functions of $p_{\rm t}^{\rm D^{*\pm}}$ and the pseudorapidity $|\eta^{\rm D^{*\pm}}| $ are measured in the range $ 2\unit{GeV}/c < p_{\rm t}^{\rm D^{*\pm}} < 12\unit{GeV}/c $ and $ |\eta^{\rm D^{*\pm}}| < 1.5 $. They are compared to next-to-leading order (NLO)perturbative QCD calculations. The extrapolation of the integrated visible D$^{*\pm}$ cross section to the total charm cross section, based on the Pythia Monte Carlo program, yields $ \sigma (\epem \to \epem \ccbar)_ {=197\unit{GeV}} = 731 \pm 74_{\mathrm{stat}} \pm 47_{\mathrm{syst}} \pm 157_{\mathrm{extr}} \unit{pb} $.

In June 1996, the LEP centre-of-mass energy was raised to 161 GeV. Pair production of W bosons in e + e − collisions was observed for the first time by the LEP experiments. An integrated luminosity of 11 pb −1 was recorded in the ALEPH detector, in which WW candidate events were observed. In 6 events both Ws decay leptonically. In 16 events, one W decays leptonically, the other into hadrons. In the channel where both Ws decay into hadrons, a signal was separated from the large background by means of several multi-variate analyses. The W pair cross-section is measured to be σ WW = 4.23 ± 0.73 (stat.) ± 0.19 (syst.) pb. From this cross-section, the W mass is derived within the framework of the Standard Model: m W = 80.14 ± 0.34 (stat.) ± 0.09 (syst.) ± 0.03 (LEP energy) GeV/ c 2

The production of W+W- pairs is analysed in a data sample collected by ALEPH at a mean centre-of-mass energy of 182.7 GeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 57 pb-1. Cross sections are given for different topologies of W decays into leptons or hadrons. Under Standard Model assumptions for the W-pair production and decay, the W-pair cross section is measured to be 15.57+-0.62(stat.)+-0.29(syst.) pb. Using also the W-pair data samples collected by ALEPH at lower centre-of-mass energies, the decay branching ratio of the W boson into hadrons is measured to be B(W->hadrons)= 68.93+-1.21(stat.)+-0.51(syst.)%, allowing a determination of the CKM matrix element |Vcs|= 1.043 +- 0.058(stat.) +- 0.026(syst.). The agreement of the cross sections with the Standard Model prediction allows a limit to be set on the W decay rate to undetectable final states.

A measurement of the transverse momentum spectra of jets in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=2.76$ TeV is reported. Jets are reconstructed from charged particles using the anti-$k_{\rm T}$ jet algorithm with jet resolution parameters $R$ of $0.2$ and $0.3$ in pseudo-rapidity $|\eta|<0.5$. The transverse momentum $p_{\rm T}$ of charged particles is measured down to $0.15$ GeV/$c$ which gives access to the low $p_{\rm T}$ fragments of the jet. Jets found in heavy-ion collisions are corrected event-by-event for average background density and on an inclusive basis (via unfolding) for residual background fluctuations and detector effects. A strong suppression of jet production in central events with respect to peripheral events is observed. The suppression is found to be similar to the suppression of charged hadrons, which suggests that substantial energy is radiated at angles larger than the jet resolution parameter $R=0.3$ considered in the analysis. The fragmentation bias introduced by selecting jets with a high $p_{\rm T}$ leading particle, which rejects jets with a soft fragmentation pattern, has a similar effect on the jet yield for central and peripheral events. The ratio of jet spectra with $R=0.2$ and $R=0.3$ is found to be similar in Pb-Pb and simulated PYTHIA pp events, indicating no strong broadening of the radial jet structure in the reconstructed jets with $R<0.3$.

We report cross sections for the process γγ→pp¯ at center-of-mass energies W from 2.0 to 2.8 GeV. These results have been extracted from measurements of e+e−→e+e−pp¯ at an overall center-of-mass energy of 29 GeV, using the TPC/Two-Gamma facility at the SLAC storage ring PEP. Cross sections for the untagged mode [both photons nearly real] are shown to lie well above QCD predictions. Results are also presented for the single-tagged mode [one photon in the range 0.16<Q2<1.6 (GeV/c)2].

We report a photon-photon experiment performed at the Orsay storage rings. 300e + e − , μ + μ − and π + π − pairs produced with low invariant masses have been observed. For each event, one or both protons have been tagged at a very small angle. The γγ→μ + μ − and γγ→π + π − cross-sections have been measured near threshold, the γγ→e + e − process being used as a normalization. The observed invariant mass distribution is compared to theoretical calculations for each of the three processes. The μ + μ − data are in good agreement with QED predictions. The π + π − cross-section, in our experimental acceptance, is somewhat larger than the one expected from the Born terms only.

The process e+e- to gamma gamma (gamma) is studied using data recorded with the OPAL detector at LEP. The data sample corresponds to a total integrated luminosity of 56.2 pb-1 taken at a centre-of-mass energy of 183 GeV. The measured cross-section agrees well with the expectation from QED. A fit to the angular distribution is used to obtain improved limits at 95% CL on the QED cut-off parameters: Lambda+ > 233 GeV and Lambda- > 265 GeV as well as a mass limit for an excited electron, M(e*) > 227 GeV assuming equal e*egamma and eegamma couplings. No evidence for resonance production is found in the invariant mass spectrum of photon pairs. Limits are obtained for the cross-section times branching ratio for a resonance decaying into two photons.

Exclusive production of π and K meson pairs in two photon collisions is measured with ALEPH data collected between 1992 and 2000. Cross-sections are presented as a function of cos θ ∗ and invariant mass, for | cos θ ∗ |<0.6 and invariant masses between 2.0 and 6.0 GeV/ c 2 (2.25 and 4.0 GeV/ c 2 ) for pions (kaons). The shape of the distributions are found to be well described by QCD predictions but the data have a significantly higher normalization.

Enhanced production of strange baryons and anti-baryons at central rapidity in S-W and S-z.sbnd;S with respect to p-A reactions has been reported by the CERN experiments WA85 and WA94. The WA97 experiment is extending such a study to Pb Pb collisions making use of the newly developed silicon pixel detectors. Results on Λ, Ξ − and Ω − production in Pb Pb collisions at 158 A GeV/ c at central rapidity are presented. Transverse mass spectra and particle ratios are presented. Hyperon yields are given as a function of the collision centrality and compared with those obtained from p-Pb collisions using the same experimental setup.

Vector meson production is studied in the reaction γγ→K+K−π+π−. A clear Φ(1020) signal is seen in theK+K− mass distribution and aK*0 (890) signal is visible in theK±π∓ one. Both do not seem to be strongly correlated with quasi two body final states. Cross sections for the processes γγ→K+K−π+π−, γγ→Φπ+π−, γγ→K+0K±π∓ and upper limits for the production of Φp, ΦΦ andK*0\(\overline {K^{ * 0} } \) are given as function of the invariant γγ mass.

The cross section for the production of Ξ + particles in K + p interactions at 12.7 GeV/ c is 10 ± 3 μ b; the Ξ − production cross section is 2.5 ± 1.0 μ b; the upper limit on Ω − or Ω + production is 0.4 μb. The Ξ − are produced preferentially in the backward direction in the CM system while the Ξ + are produced mainly forward. The mass and lifetime of the Ξ + agree with the accepted values for the Ξ − hyperon.

We analyze a sample of W + jet events collected with the Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF) in ppbar collisions at sqrt(s) = 1.8 TeV to study ttbar production. We employ a simple kinematical variable "H", defined as the scalar sum of the transverse energies of the lepton, neutrino and jets. For events with a W boson and four or more jets, the shape of the "H" distribution deviates by 3.8 standard deviations from that expected from known backgrounds to ttbar production. However this distribution agrees well with a linear combination of background and ttbar events, the agreement being best for a top mass of 180 GeV/c^2.

We have searched for excited states of charged and neutral leptons, e ∗ , μ ∗ , τ ∗ and ν ∗ , in e + e − collisions at s =161 GeV using the OPAL detector at LEP. No evidence for their existence was found. With the most common coupling assumptions, the topologies from excited lepton pair production include ℓ + ℓ − γγ and ℓ + ℓ − W + W − , with the subsequent decay of the virtual W bosons. From the analysis of these topologies, 95% confidence level lower mass limits of 79.9 GeV for e ∗ , 80.0 GeV for μ ∗ , 79.1 GeV for τ ∗ , 78.3 GeV for ν e ∗ , 78.9 GeV for ν μ ∗ and 76.2 GeV for ν τ ∗ are inferred. From the analysis of W + W − and γγ topologies with missing energy and using alternative coupling assingments which favour charged ℓ ∗± and photonic ν ∗ decays, 95% confidence level lower mass limits of 77.1 GeV for each ℓ ∗± flavour and 77.8 GeV for each ν ∗ flavour are inferred. From the analysis of the ℓ + ℓ − γ , ℓ ± W ∓ and single γ final states expected from excited lepton single production, upper limits on the ratio of the coupling to the compositeness scale, f Λ , are determined for excited lepton masses up to the kinematic limit.

The two-photon collision reaction e + e − → e + e − l + l − has been studied at 2 ≈91 GeV using the L3 detector at LEP for l = e, μ , τ . We have analysed untagged configurations where the two photons are quasi-real. Good agreement is found between our measurements and the O (α 4 ) QED expectation.

The e + e − → W + W − cross section is measured in a data sample collected by ALEPH at a mean centre-of-mass energy of 172.09 GeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 10.65 pb −1 . Cross sections are given for the three topologies, fully leptonic, semi-leptonic and hadronic of a W-pair decay. Under the assumption that no other decay modes are present, the W-pair cross section is measured to be 11.7±1.2 (stat.) ±0.3 (syst.) pb . The existence of the triple gauge boson vertex of the Standard Model is clearly preferred by the data. The decay branching ratio of the W boson into hadrons is measured to be B(W→hadrons) =67.7±3.1 (stat.) ±0.7 (syst.) % , allowing a determination of the CKM matrix element | V cs |=0.98±0.14(stat.)±0.03(syst.).

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.

Photonic events with large missing energy have been observed in e+e- collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 189GeV using the OPAL detector at LEP. Results are presented for event topologies consistent with a single photon or with an acoplanar photon pair. Cross-section measurements are performed within the kinematic acceptance of each selection, and the number of light neutrino species is measured. Cross-section results are compared with the expectations from the Standard Model process e+e- to nu nubar + photon(s). No evidence is observed for new physics contributions to these final states. Upper limits are derived on sigma(e+e- to XY).BR(X to Y gamma) and sigma(e+e- to XX).BR**2(X to Y gamma) for the case of stable and invisible Y. These limits apply to single and pair production of excited neutrinos (X=nu*, Y = nu), to neutralino production (X=neutralino_2, Y=neutralino_1) and to supersymmetric models in which X = neutralino_1 and Y = light gravitino. The case of macroscopic decay lengths of particle X is considered for e+e- to XX, X to Y gamma, when M_Y is of order zero. The single-photon results are also used to place upper limits on superlight gravitino pair production as well as graviton-photon production in the context of theories with additional space dimensions.

We report the first measurement of the cross section for Z boson pair production at a hadron collider. This result is based on a data sample corresponding to 1.9 fb-1 of integrated luminosity from ppbar collisions at sqrt{s} = 1.96 TeV collected with the CDF II detector at the Fermilab Tevatron. In the llll channel, we observe three ZZ candidates with an expected background of 0.096^{+0.092}_{-0.063} events. In the llnunu channel, we use a leading-order calculation of the relative ZZ and WW event probabilities to discriminate between signal and background. In the combination of llll and llnunu channels, we observe an excess of events with a probability of $5.1\times 10^{-6}$ to be due to the expected background. This corresponds to a significance of 4.4 standard deviations. The measured cross section is sigma(ppbar -> ZZ) = 1.4^{+0.7}_{-0.6} (stat.+syst.) pb, consistent with the standard model expectation.

This paper reports a complete analysis of data taken at DCI to measure lepton and pion pair production close to the threshold in two-photon processes: e + e − → e + e − (e + e − , μ + μ − , π + π − ). Preliminary results have been previously published including one-half of the total statistics. Final results presented here are in good agreement with QED for lepton pair production. The measured cross section for pion pair production is twice as large as that expected from Born terms only — a two standard deviation effect.

We describe a cone-based jet finding algorithm (similar to that used in\(\bar p\)p experiments), which we have applied to hadronic events recorded using the OPAL detector at LEP. Comparisons are made between jets defined with the cone algorithm and jets found by the “JADE” and “Durham” jet finders usually used ine+e− experiments. Measured jet rates, as a function of the cone size and as a function of the minimum jet energy, have been compared with O(αs2) calculations, from which two complementary measurements\(\alpha _s \left( {M_{Z^0 } } \right)\) have been made. The results are\(\alpha _s \left( {M_{Z^0 } } \right)\)=0.116±0.008 and\(\alpha _s \left( {M_{Z^0 } } \right)\)=0.119±0.008 respectively, where the errors include both experimental and theoretical uncertainties. Measurements are presented of the energy flow inside jets defined using the cone algorithm, and compared with equivalent data from\(\bar p\)p interactions, reported by the CDF collaboration. We find that the jets ine+e− are significantly narrower than those observed in\(\bar p\)p. The main contribution to this effect appears to arise from differences between quark- and gluon-induced jets.

The cross sections and forward-backward asymmetries of hadronic and leptonic events produced in e+e- collisions at centre-of-mass energies of 130-183 GeV are presented. Results for ee, mumu, tautau, qq, bb and cc production show no significant deviation from the Standard Model predictions. This enable constraints to be set upon physics beyond the Standard Model such as four-fermion contact interactions, leptoquarks, Z' bosons and R-parity violating squarks and sneutrinos. Limits on the energy scale Lambda of eeff contact interactions are typically in the range from 2-10 TeV. Limits on R-parity violating sneutrinos reach masses of a few hundred GeV for large values of their Yukawa couplings.

From a data sample of 183 pb^-1 recorded at a center-of-mass energy of roots = 189 GeV with the OPAL detector at LEP, 3068 W-pair candidate events are selected. Assuming Standard Model W boson decay branching fractions, the W-pair production cross section is measured to be sigmaWW = 16.30 +- 0.34(stat.) +- 0.18(syst.) pb. When combined with previous OPAL measurements, the W boson branching fraction to hadrons is determined to be 68.32 +- 0.61(stat.) +- 0.28(syst.) % assuming lepton universality. These results are consistent with Standard Model expectations.

Local parity-odd domains are theorized to form inside a Quark-Gluon-Plasma (QGP) which has been produced in high-energy heavy-ion collisions. The local parity-odd domains manifest themselves as charge separation along the magnetic field axis via the chiral magnetic effect (CME). The experimental observation of charge separation has previously been reported for heavy-ion collisions at the top RHIC energies. In this paper, we present the results of the beam-energy dependence of the charge correlations in Au+Au collisions at midrapidity for center-of-mass energies of 7.7, 11.5, 19.6, 27, 39 and 62.4 GeV from the STAR experiment. After background subtraction, the signal gradually reduces with decreased beam energy, and tends to vanish by 7.7 GeV. The implications of these results for the CME will be discussed.

Cross-sections for hadronic and leptonic two-fermion events, and leptonic forward-backward asymmetries, have been measured in e + e − collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 161 GeV, using the OPAL detector at LEP. Results are presented both including and excluding the dominant production of radiative γZ 0 events. We have measured R b , the ratio of the number of b b to all multihadronic events at 161 GeV, and compared it to the result obtained at 130–136 GeV. All results agree well with the Standard Model expectations. In a model-independent fit to the Z 0 lineshape, the data presented here give an improved precision on the γZ 0 -interference term. The data have also been used to obtain new limits on extensions of the Standard Model described by effective four-fermion contact interactions.