0000000000326789
AUTHOR
A. Gamess
Searches for the standard Higgs boson
Abstract A data sample corresponding to about 100 000 hadronic Z decays collected by ALEPH at LEP has been used to search for the standard Higgs boson produced in the reaction e + e − → H 0 Z 0∗ . No indication for any signal was found, and a 95% CL lower limit on the Higgs boson mass has been set at 41.6 GeV.
Search for a new weakly interacting particle
Abstract A search for events of the type e + e − →l + l − X 0 , where X 0 can be any weakly interacting particle which couples to the Z, has been performed with the ALEPH detector at LEP, by searching for acollinear lepton pairs. Such particles can be excluded up to a mass of 7.0 GeV/c 2 for a value of the ratio of branching fractions, Br( Z →X 0 l + l − )/Br(Z→ l + l − ), greater than 2.5 × 10 −3 if the X 0 has third component of isospin, I 3 greater than 1 2 and decays to a pair of virtual gauge bosons. When this analysis is combined with the previous results of the Higgs particle searches from ALEPH, this limit can be extended to an X 0 mass of 60 GeV/c 2 .
Search for excited neutrinos in Z decay
Excited neutrinos decaying into a neutrino and a photon are searched for in the ALEPH detector at LEP. No evidence is found for Z decay into vv∗ or v∗v∗ final states. Upper limits are derived on excited neutrino couplings up to excited neutrino masses close to the Z mass. Lower limits on the v∗ mass, independent of the v∗ decay modes, are deduced from the total Z width.
Production and decay of charmed mesons at the Z resonance
Abstract In a sample of 190 000 hadronic Z decays, three signals of charm production are observed: two from the exclusive decays D ° → K − π + and D ∗+ → D °π + → K − π + π + and one in the transverse-momentum distribution of soft hadrons relative to the nearest jet. The features of these signals are in good agreement with expectations based on the standard model and previous measurements of the branching fractions. The number of D ∗± → K ± π ± π ± per hadronic decay of the Z is measured to be (5.11±0.34) × 10 −3 , and the branching ratio B(D 0 → K − π + ) is (3.62 ± 0.34 ± 0.44)%. Charm hadronization has been studied. The average fraction of the beam energy carried by the D ∗ meson is foun…
Measurement of the B hadron lifetime
The average lifetime of B hadrons has been measured by the ALEPH experiment at LEP. Events containing B hadrons are selected by the identification of leptons with high transverse momentum in hadronic Z decays, and the lifetime is extracted from a fit to the impact parameter distribution of the lepton tracks. From a sample of 1.7×105 hadronic Z decays a lifetime of 1.29±0.06±0.10 ps is measured.
Measurement of B- mixing at the Z
Abstract From more than 175 000 hadronic Z decays observed with the ALEPH detector at LEP, we select 823 events with pairs of leptons in the final state. From these we measure χ , the probability thata b hadron which is observed to decay originated as a b hadron. We find χ =0.132 −0.026 +0.027 .
Measurement of the strong coupling constant alfa_s from global event-shape variables of hadronic Z decays
Abstract An analysis of global event-shape variables has been carried out for the reaction e+e−→Z0→hadrons to measure the strong coupling constant αs. This study is based on 52 720 hadronic events obtained in 1989/90 with the ALEPH detector at the LEP collider at energies near the peak of the Z-resonance. In order to determine αs, second order QCD predictions modified by effects of perturbative higher orders and hadronization were fitted to the experimental distributions of event-shape variables. From a detailed analysis of the theoretical uncertainties we find that this approach is best justified for the differential two-jet rate, from which we obtain αs(MZ2) = 0.121 ± 0.002(stat.)±0.003(s…