Measurement of the W boson mass and width in e+e- collisions at LEP

The mass of the W boson is determined from the direct reconstruction of W decays in WW→qq̄qq̄ and WW→ℓνqq̄ events in e⁺e^- collisions at LEP. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 683 pb^-1 collected with the ALEPH detector at centre-of-mass energies up to 209 GeV. To minimise any effect from colour reconnection a new procedure is adopted in which low energy particles are not considered in the mass determination from the qq̄qq̄ channel. The combined result from all channels is where FSI represents the possible effects of final state interactions in the qq̄qq̄ channel and LEP indicates the uncertainty in the beam energy. From two-parameter fits to the W mass and width, the W width is found to be      

ZZ production in e+ e- int eractions at $\sqrt{s} =$ 183-209 G eV

Measurements of on-shell ZZ production are described, using data from the DELPHI experiment at LEP in e ⁺ e ^- collisions at centre-of-mass energies between 183 and 209 GeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 665 pb^-1. Results obtained in each of the final states , , , , , l ⁺ l ^- l ⁺ l ^-, and (with ) are presented. The measured production cross-sections are consistent with the Standard Model expectations. These results update and supersede those already published at 183 and 189 GeV.Received: 3 March 2002, Revised: 28 May 2003, Published online: 19 September 2003     

Measurement of the mass and width of the W boson

The mass and width of the W boson are measured using e⁺e^– → W⁺W^– events from the data sample collected by the OPAL experiment at LEP at centre-of-mass energies between 170 GeV and 209 GeV. The mass (m_W) and width (Γ_W) are determined using direct reconstruction of the kinematics of W⁺W^– → and W⁺W^– → events. When combined with previous OPAL measurements using W⁺W^– → events and the dependence on of the WW production cross-section at threshold, the results are determined to be

Study of Z pair production and anomalous couplingsin e + e- collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ between 190 GeV and 209 GeV

A study of Z-boson pair production in e ⁺ e^- annihilation at center-of-mass energies between 190 GeV and 209 GeV is reported. Final states containing only leptons, ( and ), quark and lepton pairs, ( , ) and only hadrons ( ) are considered. In all states with at least one Z boson decaying hadronically, lifetime, lepton and event-shape tags are used to separate pairs from final states. Limits on anomalous ZZ and ZZZ couplings are derived from the measured cross sections and from event kinematics using an optimal observable method. Limits on low scale gravity with large extra dimensions are derived from the cross sections and their dependence on polar angle.Received: 14 July 2003, Published online: 18 December 2003     

Improving bounds on flavor changing vertices in the two Higgs doublet model from B^0-\bar{B}^0 mixing

We find some constraints on the flavor changing vertices of the two Higgs doublet model, from the measurement. Although bounds from this observable have already been considered, this paper takes into account the role of a new operator not included previously, as well as the vertices , and . Using the Cheng–Sher parametrization, we find that for a relatively light charged Higgs boson (200–300 GeV), we obtain , while the parameter could have values up to about 50. In addition, we use bounds for and obtained from at next to leading order, and study the case where the only vanishing vertex factors are the ones involving quarks from the first family. We obtain that is not sensitive to the change of the parameter , while .     

Production properties of K^\star(892)^\pm vector mesons and their spin alignment as measured in the NOMAD experiment

First measurements of mesons production properties and their spin alignment in charged current (CC) and neutral current (NC) interactions are presented. The analysis of the full data sample of the NOMAD experiment is performed in different kinematic regions. For and mesons produced in CC interactions and decaying into we have found the following yields per event: and respectively, while for the and mesons produced in interactions the corresponding yields per event are: and . The results obtained for the parameter, and for and produced in CC interactions, are compared to theoretical predictions tuned on LEP measurements in annihilation at the pole. For mesons produced in interactions the measured parameter is . PACS 13.15.+g, 13.60.Le, 13.87.Fh, 13.88.+e, 14.40.Ev     

Search for chargino and neutralino productionat $\sqrt{s} = 192$-209 GeV at LEP

Approximately 438 pb^-1 of e ⁺ e^- data from the OPAL detector, taken with the LEP collider running at centre-of-mass energies of 192-209 GeV, are analyzed to search for evidence of chargino pair production, , or neutralino associated production, . Limits are set at the 95% confidence level on the product of the cross-section for the process and its branching ratios to topologies containing jets and missing energy, or jets with a lepton and missing energy, and on the product of the cross-section for and its branching ratio to jets. R-parity conservation is assumed throughout this paper. When these results are interpreted in the context of the Constrained Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model, limits are also set on the masses of the and , and regions of the parameter space of the model are ruled out. Nearly model-independent limits are also set at the 95% confidence level on with the assumption that each chargino decays via a W boson, and on with the assumed to decay via a Z⁰.Received: 15 December 2003, Revised: 16 February 2004, Published online: 23 April 2004     

Measurement of charm fragmentation ratios and fractionsin photoproduction at HERA

The production of , D⁰, D ⁺ , D_s ⁺ and charm hadrons and their antiparticles in e p scattering at HERA was measured with the ZEUS detector using an integrated luminosity of . The measurement has been performed in the photoproduction regime with the exchanged-photon virtuality and for photon-proton centre-of-mass energies in the range . The charm hadrons were reconstructed in the range of transverse momentum and pseudorapidity . The production cross sections were used to determine the ratio of neutral and charged D-meson production rates, , the strangeness-suppression factor, , and the fraction of charged D mesons produced in a vector state, . The measured and values agree with those obtained in deep inelastic scattering and in e ⁺ e^- annihilations. The measured value is smaller than, but consistent with, the previous measurements. The fractions of c quarks hadronising as a particular charm hadron, , were derived in the given kinematic range. The measured open-charm fragmentation fractions are consistent with previous results, although the measured is smaller and is larger than those obtained in e ⁺ e^- annihilations. These results generally support the hypothesis that fragmentation proceeds independently of the hard sub-process. Received: 12 August 2005, Revised: 8 September 2005, Published online: 6 October 2005     

The measurement of $\alpha_s$ from event shapes with the DELPHI detector at the highest LEP energies

Searches for pair-production of supersymmetric particles under the assumption of non-conservation of R-parity with a dominant LL or term have been performed using the data collected by the DELPHI experiment at LEP in e ⁺ e^- collisions at centre-of-mass energies from 192 up to 208 GeV. No excess of data above Standard Model expectations was observed. The results were used to constrain the MSSM parameter space and to derive limits on the masses of supersymmetric particles.Received: 4 March 2004, Revised: 5 May 2004, Published online: 23 June 2004An Erratum to this article can be found at     

Pair-produced heavy particle topologies: MSSM neutralino properties at the LHC from gluino/squark cascade decays

Processes of the form pp → anything → X_iX_j → + + notE are studied via a technique that may be viewed as an adaptation of time-honoured Dalitz plot analyses. X_i and X_j are new heavy states (with i, j =1, . . .,n), which may be identical or distinct; and and are necessarily distinct standard model (SM) fermion pairs whose invariant masses can be measured. A Dalitz-like plot of said invariant masses, versus , exhibits a topology connected to the masses and specific decay chains of X_i and X_j. Aside from relatively minor details, observed patterns consist of a collection of box and wedge shapes. This collection is model-dependent: comparison of the observed pattern to the possibilities for a specific model yields information on which new particle pair combinations are actually being produced, information beyond that extractable from conventional one-dimensional invariant mass distributions. The technique is illustrated via application to the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) process pp → → e⁺e^- + μ⁺μ^- notE. Here the heavy states are neutralinos (i = 2,3,4) - note that is excluded - which are produced in gluino/squark ( / ) cascade decay chains. Even with fairly modest expectations for the LHC performance during the first few years, this method still provides substantial insight into the neutralino mass spectrum and couplings if gluino/squark masses are relatively low (≃ 400 GeV). Arrival of the final proofs: 29 November 2005     

Di-jet production in photon-photon collisionsat $\sqrt{s_{\protect\bf\mathrm{ee}}}$ from 189 to 209 GeV

Di-jet production is studied in collisions of quasi-real photons at e ⁺ e^- centre-of-mass energies from 189 to 209 GeV at LEP. The data were collected with the OPAL detector. Jets are reconstructed using an inclusive -clustering algorithm for all cross-section measurements presented. A cone jet algorithm is used in addition to study the different structure of the jets resulting from either of the algorithms. The inclusive di-jet cross-section is measured as a function of the mean transverse energy of the two leading jets, and as a function of the estimated fraction of the photon momentum carried by the parton entering the hard sub-process, , for different regions of . Angular distributions in di-jet events are measured and used to demonstrate the dominance of quark and gluon initiated processes in different regions of phase space. Furthermore the inclusive di-jet cross-section as a function of and is presented, where is the jet pseudo-rapidity. Different regions of the - -space are explored to study and control the influence of an underlying event. The results are compared to next-to-leading order perturbative QCD calculations and to the predictions of the leading order Monte Carlo generator PYTHIA.Received: 20 December 2002, Published online: 17 October 2003     

The $\eta_{c}(2980)$ formation in two-photon collisions at LEP energies

production in interactions has been detected via its decays into ,K ⁺ K ^- K ⁺ K ^- and in the data taken with the DELPHI detector at LEP1 and LEP2 energies. The two-photon radiative width averaged over all observed decay channels is = 13.9 2.0 (stat.) 1.4(syst.) 2.7 (BR) keV. No direct decay channel has been observed. An upper limit < 5.5 keV at 95% confidence level has been evaluated for this decay mode.Received: 3 July 2003, Published online: 7 November 2003     

ω- πγtransition form factor in proton-proton collisions

Dalitz decays of ω and ρ mesons, and , produced in pp collisions are calculated within a covariant effective meson-nucleon theory. We argue that the ω transition form factor is experimentally accessible in a fairly model-independent way in the reaction pp → ppπ⁰ e ⁺ e ^- for invariant masses of the π⁰ e ⁺ e ^- subsystem near the ω pole. Numerical results are presented for the intermediate-energy kinematics of envisaged HADES experiments.     

Search for stable hadronizing squarks and gluinosin e + e- collisions up to \sqrt{s} = 209 GeV

Searches for stable, hadronizing scalar quarks and gluinos are performed using the data collected with the ALEPH detector at LEP. Gluon splitting into a gluino or a squark pair is searched for at centre-of-mass energies around the Z resonance, in the e ⁺ e^- and processes. Stable squark pair production, and stop pair production with subsequent decays into a stable gluino, , are also directly searched for at centre-of-mass energies from 183 to 209 GeV. Altogether, stable hadronizing stop (sbottom) quarks are excluded up to masses of 95 (92) , and stable hadronizing gluinos are excluded up to 26.9 , at 95% confidence level. In the framework of R-parity-conserving supersymmetric models in which the gluino and the stop quark are the two lightest supersymmetric particles, a 95% C.L. lower limit of 80 is set on the stop quark mass.Received: 23 May 2003, Published online: 24 October 2003     

Study of spin and decay-plane correlations of W bosons in the e + e$^-\rightarrow$ W + W- process at LEP

Data collected at LEP at centre-of-mass energies GeV are used to study correlations of the spin of W bosons using events. Spin correlations are favoured by data, and found to agree with the Standard Model predictions. In addition, correlations between the W-boson decay planes are studied in and events. Decay-plane correlations are measured to be consistent with the Standard Model predictions.Received: 26 October 2004, Revised: 15 January 2005, Published online: 3 March 2005     

Multiplicity difference between heavy- and light-quark jets revisited

The perturbative QCD approach to multiparticle production predicts a characteristic suppression of particle multiplicity in a heavy-quark jet as compared to a light-quark jet. In the modified leading logarithmic approximation (MLLA) the multiplicity difference between heavy- and light-quark jets is derived in terms of a few other experimentally measured quantities. The earlier prediction for b-quarks needs revision in the light of new experimental results and the improvement in the understanding of the experimental data. We now find . The updated MLLA results on and are compared with the present data from e ⁺ e^- annihilation. Their expected energy independence is confirmed within the energy range between 29 and 200 GeV; the absolute values are now in better agreement with experiment than in the previous analysis, and the remaining difference can be attributed largely to next-to-MLLA contributions, an important subset of which are identified and evaluated. Arrival of the final proofs: 22 November 2005     

Flavour-independent h<Superscript>0</Superscript>A<Superscript>0</Superscript> search and two Higgs doublet model interpretation of neutral Higgs boson searches at LEP

Upper limits on the cross-section of the pair-production process , assuming 100 branching fraction to hadrons, are derived from a new search for the hadrons final state, independently of the hadronic flavour of the decay products. This study, combined with previously published searches for the neutral Higgs bosons h⁰ and A⁰, is used to constrain the Type II Two Higgs Doublet Model (2HDM(II)) with no CP violation in the Higgs sector and no additional non-Standard Model particles besides the five Higgs bosons. The analysis combines LEP1 and LEP2 data collected with the OPAL detector up to the highest available centre-of-mass energies. The searches are sensitive to the and decay modes of the Higgs bosons. A benchmark scan of the 2HDM(II) parameter space is performed. Large regions of the 2HDM(II) parameter space explored are excluded at the 95% CL in the ( and planes, using both direct neutral Higgs boson searches and indirect limits derived from Standard Model high precision measurements. The region GeV and GeV is excluded at 95 % CL, independently of and for selected values of which are representative of a complete -scan.Received: 28 July 2004, Revised: 4 January 2005, Published online: 3 March 2005     

Measurement of W-pair production in e<Superscript> + </Superscript>e<Superscript>-</Superscript> collisions at centre-of-mass energies from 183 to 209 GeV

The W ⁺ W^- production cross section is measured from a data sample corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of 683 pb^-1, collected by the ALEPH experiment at LEP at centre-of-mass energies from 183 to 209 GeV. Individual cross sections for the different topologies arising from W decays into leptons or hadrons, as well as the total W-pair cross section are given at eight centre-of-mass energies. The results are found to be in agreement with recently developed Standard Model calculations at the one percent level. The hadronic branching fraction of the W boson is measured to be = 67.13 0.37(stat.) 0.15(syst.)%, from which the CKM matrix element is determined to be 0.958 0.017(stat.) 0.008(syst.)Received: 1 October 2004, Published online: 15 November 2004     

Measurement of the strong coupling αS from four-jet observables in e+e- annihilation

Data from e⁺e^- annihilation into hadrons at centre-of-mass energies between 91 GeV and 209 GeV collected with the OPAL detector at LEP, are used to study the four-jet rate as a function of the Durham algorithm resolution parameter y_cut. The four-jet rate is compared to next-to-leading order calculations that include the resummation of large logarithms. The strong coupling measured from the four-jet rate is in agreement with the world average. Next-to-leading order fits to the D-parameter and thrust minor event-shape observables are also performed for the first time. We find consistent results, but with significantly larger theoretical uncertainties.