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.
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.
The differential cross-sections for e + e − → e + e − , e + e − → μ + μ − and e + e − → τ + τ − , and the total cross-section for e + e − → qq̄ at centre-of-mass energies of 130–140 GeV were studied using about 5 pb −1 of data collected with the OPAL detector at LEP in October and November 1995. The results are in agreement with the Standard Model predictions. Four-fermion contact interaction models were fitted to the data and lower limits were obtained on the energy scale Λ at the 95% confidence level.
We search for lepton flavour violating events (e mu, e tau and mu tau) that could be directly produced in e+e- annihilations, using the full available data sample collected with the OPAL detector at centre-of-mass energies between 189 GeV and 209 GeV. In general, the Standard Model expectations describe the data well for all the channels and at each sqrt(s). A single e mu event is observed where according to our Monte Carlo simulations only 0.019 events are expected from Standard Model processes. We obtain the first limits on the cross-sections sigma(e+e- -> e mu, e tau and mu tau) as a function of sqrt(s) at LEP2 energies.
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