0000000000037466
AUTHOR
Andre Tilquin
Determination of the LEP centre-of-mass energy from Zγ events
Radiative returns to the Z resonance (Zgamma events) are used to determine the LEP2 centre-of-mass energy from the data collected with the ALEPH detector in 1997. The average centre-of-mass energy is measured to be: E_CM = 182.50 +- 0.19(stat) +- 0.08(syst) GeV in good agreement with the precise determination by the LEP energy working group of 182.652 +- 0.050 GeV. If applied to the measurement of the W mass, its precision translates into a systematic error on M_W which is smaller than the statistical error achieved from the corresponding dataset.
Four-jet final state production in e+e- collisions at centre-of-mass energies of 130 and 136 GeV
The four-jet final state is analyzed to search for hadronic decays of pair-produced heavy particles. The analysis uses the ALEPH data collected at LEP in November 1995 at centre-of-mass energies of 130 and 136 GeV, corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of 5.7 pb(-1). An excess of four-jet events is observed with respect to the standard model predictions. In addition, these events exhibit an enhancement in the sum of the two di-jet masses around 105 GeV/c(2). The properties of these events are studied and compared to the expectations from standard processes and to pair production hypotheses. RI ANTONELLI, ANTONELLA/C-6238-2011; Passalacqua, Luca/F-5127-2011; Murtas, Fabrizio/B-5729-…
Studies of QCD in ${\rm e^+ e^-}\to $ hadrons at $E_{\rm cm} = 130$ and 136 GeV
Studies of QCD in $\mbox{e}^+\mbox{e}^- \rightarrow$ Hadrons at $E_{cm} = $} 130 and 136 GeV The ALEPH Collaboration An analysis of the properties of hadronic final states produced in electron-positron annihilation at centre-of-mass energies of 130 and 136 GeV is presented. The measurements are based on a data sample of 5.7 $\mbox{pb}^{-1}$ collected in November 1995 with the \Aleph detector at LEP. Inclusive charged particle distributions, jet rates and event-shape distributions are measured and the results are compared with the predictions of QCD-based models. From the measured distributions quantities are determined for which the dependence on the centre-of-mass energy can be predicted b…
A Search for Sleptons and Gauginos in Z0 Decays
Using a data sample corresponding to 10 000 hadronic Z0 decays, we have searched for the production of sleptons and gauginos in the two-prong decays of Z0. No candidate remains after straightforward selections. For neutralinos, we use selection methods developed in our previous search for neutral Higgs particles. The negative results are translated into improved mass limits and parameter constraints on the minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model.
Searches for neutral Higgs bosons in e+e− collisions at centre-of-mass energies from 192 to 202 GeV
Searches for neutral Higgs bosons are performed with the 237 pb-1 of data collected in 1999 by the ALEPH detector at LEP, for centre-of-mass energies between 191.6 and 201.6 GeV. These searches apply to Higgs bosons within the context of the Standard Model and its minimal supersymmetric extension (MSSM) as well as to invisibly decaying Higgs bosons. No evidence of a signal is seen. A lower limit on the mass of the Standard Model Higgs boson of 107.7 GeV/c2 at 95% confidence level is set. In the MSSM, lower limits of 91.2 and 91.6 GeV/c2 are derived for the masses of the neutral Higgs bosons h and A, respectively. For a Higgs boson decaying invisibly and produced with the Standard Model cros…
Tuning and test of fragmentation models based on identified particles and precision event shape data
Event shape and charged particle inclusive distributions are measured using 750000 decays of the $Z$ to hadrons from the DELPHI detector at LEP. These precise data allow a decisive confrontation with models of the hadronization process. Improved tunings of the JETSET ARIADNE and HERWIG parton shower models and the JETSET matrix element model are obtained by fitting the models to these DELPHI data as well as to identified particle distributions from all LEP experiments. The description of the data distributions by the models is critically reviewed with special importance attributed to identified particles.
A comparison of jet production rates on the Z0 resonance to perturbative QCD
The production rates for 2-, 3-, 4- and 5-jet hadronic final states have been measured with the DELPHI detector at the e+e- storage ring LEP at centre of mass energies around 91.5 GeV. Fully corrected data are compared to O(αs 2) QCD matrix element calculations and the QCD scale parameter ΛMS is determined for different parametrizations of the renormalization scale μ2. Including all uncertainties our result is αs(MZ 2)=0.114±0.003[stat.]±0.004[syst.]±0.012[theor.] .
Fermion pair production in e+e- collisions at 189-209 GeV and constraints on physics beyond the Standard Model
Cross sections, angular distributions and forward-backward asymmetries are presented, of two-fermion events produced in e+e- collisions at centre-of-mass energies from 189 to 209 GeV at LEP, measured with the ALEPH detector. Results for e+e-, mu+mu-, tau+tau-, qq, bb and cc production are in agreement with the Standard Model predictions. Constraints are set on scenarios of new physics such as four-fermion contact interactions, leptoquarks, Z' bosons, TeV-scale quantum gravity and R-parity violating squarks and sneutrinos.
PRODUCTION-RATE AND DECAY LIFETIME MEASUREMENTS OF B(S)0 MESONS AT LEP USING D(S) AND PHI MESONS
The study of the properties of inclusive production of Ds mesons and of events in which a φ{symbol} and a muon are present in the same jet provides two independent measurements of the probability, fs w, for a heavy quark to hadronize into a strange B or D meson. The data sample analysed corresponds to 243,000 hadronic Z0 decays. The combined value of these measurements is fs w=0.19±0.06±0.08. From the flight distance distributions of Ds and of (φ{symbol}-lepton) secondary vertices, with the lepton emitted at high transverse momentum relative to the jet axis, two values are obtained for the Bs 0 meson lifetime. Combining these measurements with a previous result based on the study of Ds-μ ev…
A measurement of αs from the scaling violation in e+e- annihilation
The hadronic fragmentation functions of the various quark flavours and of gluons are measured in a study of the inclusive hadron production from $\zz$ decays with the DELPHI detector and are compared with the fragmentation functions measured elsewhere at energies between 14 GeV and 91 GeV. A large scaling violation is observed, which is used to extract the strong coupling constant from a fit using a numerical integration of the second order DGLAP evolution equations. The result is \begin{displaymath} \alpha_s(M_Z) = 0.124^{+0.006}_{-0.007}(exp)\pm 0.009 (theory) \end{displaymath} where the first error represents the experimental uncertainty and the second error is due to the factorization a…
Search for pair production of neutral Higgs bosons in Z$^0$ decays
The pair production of the lightest scalar Higgs boson, h, and a pseudoscalar Higgs boson, A, was searched for in a data sample containing 10 000 hadronic Z0 decays. The search involved both leptonic and purely hadronic decay channels of each Higgs boson. No signal was found, and limits on the Higgs boson masses, in the framework of the minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model, ar reported up to 35 GeV/c2 at 95% CL, for both tan β > 1 and tan β < 1, where tan β is the ratio of the vacuum expectation values of the two Higgs doublets.
Search for pentaquarks states in Z decays
Exotic hadrons made of five quarks (pentaquarks) are searched for in hadronic Z decays collected by the ALEPH detector at LEP. No significant signal is observed. At 95% C.L. upper limits are set on the production rates N of such particles and their charge-conjugate state per Z decay: N Θ(1535)+·BR(Θ(1535)+→pK S0)<6.2×10-4, N Ε(1862)-·BR(Ε(1862)-→Ε -π-)<4.5×10-4, N Ε(1862)0·BR(Ε(1862)0→Ε -π+)<8.9×10-4, N Θc(3100)0·BR(Θc(3100) 0→D*-p)<6.3×10-4, N Θc(3100)0·BR(Θc(3100) 0→D-p)<31×10-4. © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Search for sleptons in e(+)e(-) collisions at centre-of-mass energies up to 184 GeV
The data collected by the ALEPH experiment at LEP at centre-of-mass energies around 183 GeV are analysed to search for sleptons, the partners of leptons in supersymmetric theories. The previously published search for acoplanar leptons and missing energy has been updated. New searches have been developed to cover a wider range of slepton signals. These include single electrons, acoplanar leptons accompanied by two photons plus missing energy as well as particles with lifetime. No evidence for the production of any such particles is found. Slepton mass limits are reported within gravity mediated and gauge mediated SUSY breaking scenarios. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Measurement of triple gauge-boson couplings at 172 GeV
The triple gauge-boson couplings, αWΦ, αW and αBΦ, have been measured using 34 semileptonically and 54 hadronically decaying W+W- candidate events. The events were selected in the data recorded during 1996 with the ALEPH detector at 172 GeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 10.65 pb-1. The triple gauge-boson couplings have been measured using optimal observables constructed from kinematic information of W+W- events. The results are in agreement with the Standard Model expectation.
Searches for the neutral Higgs bosons of the MSSM in e+e− collisions at centre-of-mass energies of 181–184 GeV
The data collected by ALEPH at LEP at centre-of-mass energies ranging from 181 to 184 GeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 57 pb(-1), are analysed to search for pair-produced neutral Higgs bosons h and A, in the b (b) over bar b (b) over bar and tau(+)tau(-)b (b) over bar final states. Two events are found in the data with 2.5 expected from standard model processes. When combined with the lower energy data collected by ALEPH and with earlier reported searches for associated hZ production, these analyses are interpreted in the context of the minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model (MSSM). For standard choices of MSSM parameter sets, this combination results in 95%…
Measurement of the W mass by direct reconstruction in e+e- collisions at 172 GeV
The mass of the W boson is obtained from reconstructed invariant mass distributions in W-pair events. The sample of W pairs is selected from 10.65 pb(-1) collected with the ALEPH detector at a mean centre-of-mass energy of 172.09 GeV. The invariant mass distribution of simulated events are fitted to the experimental; distributions and the following W masses are obtained: WW --> , m(W) = 81.30 +/- 0.47(stat.) +/- 0.11(syst.)GeV/c(2), WW --> l nu (l=e,mu), m(W) = 80.54 +/- 0.47(stat.) +/- 0.11(syst.)GeV/c(2), WW --> tau nu, m(W) = 79.56 +/- 1.08(stat.) +/- 0.23(syst.) GeV/c(2). The statistical errors are the expected errors for Monte Carlo samples of the same integrated luminosity as the data…
Search for scalar quarks in Z0 decays
A search has been made for pairs of scalar quarks (squarks) produced in e+e- annihilations at LEP (√s≃MZ0), and decaying into a standard quark and a neutral, non-interacting, stable, massive particle (the lightest supersymmetric particle, LSP). The search has been conducted for differences in the mass of the squark and LSP of 2 GeV/c2 and above. Up squarks with masses below 42 GeV/c2 and down squarks below 43 GeV/c2 were excluded. Six squark flavours degenerate in mass were excluded below 45 GeV/c2.
Measurement of the e+e- → ZZ production cross section at centre-of-mass energies of 183 and 189 GeV
The ee -> ZZ cross section at sqrt(s)=182.7 and 188.6 GeV has been measured using the ALEPH detector. The analysis covers all of the visible ZZ final states and yields cross section measurements of sigma_ZZ(182.7 GeV) = 0.11 +- (0.16,0.11) (stat.) +- 0.04 (syst.) pb and sigma_ZZ(188.6 GeV) = 0.67 +- 0.13 (stat.) +- 0.04 (syst.) pb consistent with the Standard Model expectations.
Exclusive production of pion and kaon meson pairs in two photon collisions at LEP
Exclusive production of pi 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 theta* and invariant mass, for \ cos theta* \ < 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. (C) 2003 Published by Elsevier B.V.