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.
The production rates of prompt and non-prompt $J/\psi$ and $\psi(2\mathrm{S})$ mesons are measured using 2.1 $fb^{-1}$ and 11.4 $fb^{-1}$ of data collected with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC, in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=7$ and 8 TeV respectively. Production cross-sections for both prompt and non-prompt production sources, ratios of $\psi(2\mathrm{S})$ to $J/\psi$ production, and fractions of non-prompt to inclusive production for $J/\psi$ and $\psi(2\mathrm{S})$ are measured double-differentially as a function of meson $p_{T}$ and rapidity. These measurements are made in a restricted fiducial volume and also corrected for geometrical acceptance after which they are compared to a variety of theoretical predictions.
Elliptic flow from nuclear collisions is a hadronic observable sensitive to the early stages of system evolution. We report first results on elliptic flow of charged particles at midrapidity in Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN)=130 GeV using the STAR TPC at RHIC. The elliptic flow signal, v_2, averaged over transverse momentum, reaches values of about 6% for relatively peripheral collisions and decreases for the more central collisions. This can be interpreted as the observation of a higher degree of thermalization than at lower collision energies. Pseudorapidity and transverse momentum dependence of elliptic flow are also presented.
Two-pion correlation functions in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 130$ GeV have been measured by the STAR (Solenoidal Tracker at RHIC) detector. The source size extracted by fitting the correlations grows with event multiplicity and decreases with transverse momentum. Anomalously large sizes or emission durations, which have been suggested as signals of quark-gluon plasma formation and rehadronization, are not observed. The HBT parameters display a weak energy dependence over a broad range in $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$.
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.).
We report the first measurement of charged particle elliptic flow in Pb-Pb collisions at 2.76 TeV with the ALICE detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The measurement is performed in the central pseudorapidity region (|$\eta$|<0.8) and transverse momentum range 0.2< $p_{\rm T}$< 5.0 GeV/$c$. The elliptic flow signal v$_2$, measured using the 4-particle correlation method, averaged over transverse momentum and pseudorapidity is 0.087 $\pm$ 0.002 (stat) $\pm$ 0.004 (syst) in the 40-50% centrality class. The differential elliptic flow v$_2(p_{\rm T})$ reaches a maximum of 0.2 near $p_{\rm T}$ = 3 GeV/$c$. Compared to RHIC Au-Au collisions at 200 GeV, the elliptic flow increases by about 30%. Some hydrodynamic model predictions which include viscous corrections are in agreement with the observed increase.
The dependence of dijet production on the virtuality of the exchanged photon, Q^2, has been studied by measuring dijet cross sections in the range 0 < Q^2 < 2000 GeV^2 with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 38.6 pb^-1. Dijet cross sections were measured for jets with transverse energy E_T^jet > 7.5 and 6.5 GeV and pseudorapidities in the photon-proton centre-of-mass frame in the range -3 < eta^jet <0. The variable xg^obs, a measure of the photon momentum entering the hard process, was used to enhance the sensitivity of the measurement to the photon structure. The Q^2 dependence of the ratio of low- to high-xg^obs events was measured. Next-to-leading-order QCD predictions were found to generally underestimate the low-xg^obs contribution relative to that at high xg^obs. Monte Carlo models based on leading-logarithmic parton-showers, using a partonic structure for the photon which falls smoothly with increasing Q^2, provide a qualitative description of the data.
The production of $\Lambda$ baryons and ${\rm K}^{0}_{\rm S}$ mesons (${\rm V}^{0}$ particles) was measured in p-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 5.02$ TeV and pp collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 7$ TeV with ALICE at the LHC. The production of these strange particles is studied separately for particles associated with hard scatterings and the underlying event to shed light on the baryon-to-meson ratio enhancement observed at intermediate transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}$) in high multiplicity pp and p-Pb collisions. Hard scatterings are selected on an event-by-event basis with jets reconstructed with the anti-$k_{\rm T}$ algorithm using charged particles. The production of strange particles associated with jets $p_{\rm T,\;jet}^{\rm ch}>10$ and $p_{\rm T,\;jet}^{\rm ch}>20$ GeV/$c$ in p-Pb collisions, and with jet $p_{\rm T,\;jet}^{\rm ch}>10$ GeV/$c$ in pp collisions is reported as a function of $p_{\rm T}$. Its dependence on angular distance from the jet axis, $R({\rm V}^{0},\;{\rm jet})$, for jets with $p_{\rm T,\;jet}^{\rm ch}>10$ GeV/$c$ in p-Pb collisions is reported as well. The $p_{\rm T}$-differential production spectra of strange particles associated with jets are found to be harder compared to that in the underlying event and both differ from the inclusive measurements. In events containing a jet, the density of the ${\rm V}^{0}$ particles in the underlying event is found to be larger than the density in the minimum bias events. The $\Lambda/{\rm K}^{0}_{\rm S}$ ratio associated with jets in p-Pb collisions is consistent with the ratio in pp collisions and follows the expectation of jets fragmenting in vacuum. On the other hand, this ratio within jets is consistently lower than the one obtained in the underlying event and it does not show the characteristic enhancement of baryons at intermediate $p_{\rm T}$ often referred to as "baryon anomaly" in the inclusive measurements.
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.
Transverse momentum spectra and yields of hadrons are measured by the PHENIX collaboration in Au + Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 130 GeV at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). The time-of-flight resolution allows identification of pions to transverse momenta of 2 GeV/c and protons and antiprotons to 4 GeV/c. The yield of pions rises approximately linearly with the number of nucleons participating in the collision, while the number of kaons, protons, and antiprotons increases more rapidly. The shape of the momentum distribution changes between peripheral and central collisions. Simultaneous analysis of all the p_T spectra indicates radial collective expansion, consistent with predictions of hydrodynamic models. Hydrodynamic analysis of the spectra shows that the expansion velocity increases with collision centrality and collision energy. This expansion boosts the particle momenta, causing the yield from soft processes to exceed that for hard to large transverse momentum, perhaps as large as 3 GeV/c.