Limits on the production of scalar leptoquarks from Z (0) decays at LEP

A search has been made for pairs and for single production of scalar leptoquarks of the first and second generations using a data sample of 392000 Z0 decays from the DELPHI detector at LEP 1. No signal was found and limits on the leptoquark mass, production cross section and branching ratio were set. A mass limit at 95% confidence level of 45.5 GeV/c2 was obtained for leptoquark pair production. The search for the production of a single leptoquark probed the mass region above this limit and its results exclude first and second generation leptoquarks D0 with masses below 65 GeV/c2 and 73 GeV/c2 respectively, at 95% confidence level, assuming that the D0lq Yukawa coupling alpha(lambda) is equal to the electromagnetic one. An upper limit is also given on the coupling alpha(lambda) as a function of the leptoquark mass m(D0)

Production characteristics of K0 and light meson resonances in hadronic decays of the Z0

An analysis of inclusive production of K0 and the meson resonances K*±(892), ρ0(770), f0(975) and f2(1270) in hadronic decays of the Z0 is presented, based on about 973,000 multihadronic events collected by the DELPHI detector at LEP during 1991 and 1992. Overall multiplicities have been determined as 1.962±0.060 K0 mesons, 0.712±0.067 K*±(892) and 1.21±0.15ρ0(770) per hadronic Z0 decay. The average multiplicities of f0(975) for scaled momentum, xp, in the range 0.05≤xp≤0.6 and of f2(1270) for 0.05≤xp≤1.0 are 0.098±0.016 and 0.170±0.043 respectively. The f0(975) and ρ0(770)xp-spectra have similar shapes. The f2(1270)/ρ0(770) ratio increases with xp. The average multiplicities and the differential cross sections are compared with the JETSET Parton Shower model. The model with default parameters fails to reproduce the experimental K0 momentum spectrum at low momentum, describes the K*±(892) and ρ0(770)xp-spectrum shapes, but significantly overestimates their production rates. © 1995 Springer-Verlag

Determination of αs using the next-to-leading-log approximation of QCD

A new measurement of αs is obtained from the distributions in thrust, heavy jet mass, energy-energy correlation and two recently introduced jet broadening variables following a method proposed by Catani, Trentadue, Turnock and Webber. This method includes the full calculation of O(s2) terms and leading and next-to-leading logarithms resummed to all orders of αs. The analysis is based on data taken with the DELPHI detector at LEP during 1991. I its found that the inclusion of the resummed leading and next-to-leading logarithms reduces the scale dependence of αs and allows an extension of the fit range towards the infrared limit of the kinematical range. The combined value for αs obtained at the scale μ2=MZ2 is: Mathematical expression © 1993 Springer-Verlag

A measurement of D meson production in Z0 hadronic decays

A study of the fragmentation properties of charm and bottom quarks into D mesons is presented. From 263 700 Z0 hadronic decays collected in 1991 with the DELPHI detector at the LEP collider, D0, D+ and D*+ are reconstructed in the modes K-π+, K-π+K+ and D0π+ followed by D0→K-π+, respectively. The fractional decay widths {Mathematical expression} are determined, and first results are presented for the production of D mesons from {Mathematical expression} and {Mathematical expression} events separately. The average energy fraction of D*± in charm quark fragmentation is found to be 〈XE(D*)〉c=0.487± 0.015 (stat)±0.005 (sys.). Assuming that the fraction of Ds and charm-baryons produced at LEP is similar to that around 10 GeV, the Z0 partial width into charm quark pairs is determined to be Γc/Γh=0.187±0.031 (stat)±0.023 (sys). The probability for a b quark to fragment into {Mathematical expression} or b-baryons is inferred to be 0.268±0.094 (stat)±0.100 (sys) from the measured probability that it fragments into a {Mathematical expression} or B-. © 1993 Springer-Verlag

Production rate and decay lifetime measurements of Bs0 mesons at LEP using Ds and ϕ mesons

The study of the properties of inclusive production of Ds mesons and of events in which a φsymbol and a muon are present in the same jet provides two independent measurements of the probability, fsw, 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 fsw=0.19±0.06±0.08. From the flight distance distributions of Ds and of (φsymbol-lepton) secondary vertices, with the lepton emitted at high transverse momentum relative to the jet axis, two values are obtained for the Bs0 meson lifetime. Combining these measurements with a previous result based on the study of Ds-μ events, the Bs0 meson lifetime is measured to be: 0.96±0.37 ps. © 1994 Springer-Verlag