Search for composite and exotic fermions at LEP 2

A search for unstable heavy fermions with the DELPHI detector at LEP is reported. Sequential and non-canonical leptons, as well as excited leptons and quarks, are considered. The data analysed correspond to an integrated luminosity of about 48 pb^{-1} at an e^+e^- centre-of-mass energy of 183 GeV and about 20 pb^{-1} equally shared between the centre-of-mass energies of 172 GeV and 161 GeV. The search for pair-produced new leptons establishes 95% confidence level mass limits in the region between 70 GeV/c^2 and 90 GeV/c^2, depending on the channel. The search for singly produced excited leptons and quarks establishes upper limits on the ratio of the coupling of the excited fermio

Search for lightest neutralino and stau pair production in light gravitino scenarios with stau NLSP

Promptly decaying lightest neutralinos and long-lived staus are searched for in the context of light gravitino scenarios. It is assumed that the stau is the next to lightest supersymmetric particle (NLSP) and that the lightest neutralino is the next to NLSP (NNLSP). Data collected with the Delphi detector at centre-of-mass energies from 161 to 183 \GeV are analysed. No evidence of the production of these particles is found. Hence, lower mass limits for both kinds of particles are set at 95% C.L.. The mass of gaugino-like neutralinos is found to be greater than 71.5 GeV/c^2. In the search for long-lived stau, masses less than 70.0 to 77.5 \GeVcc are excluded for gravitino masses from 10 to 150 \eVcc . Combining this search with the searches for stable heavy leptons and Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model staus a lower limit of 68.5 \GeVcc may be set for the stau mas

Updated precision measurement of the average lifetime of B hadrons

The measurement of the average lifetime of B hadrons using inclusively reconstructed secondary vertices has been updated using both an improved processing of previous data and additional statistics from new data. This has reduced the statistical and systematic uncertainties and gives \tau_{\mathrm{B}} = 1.582 \pm 0.011\ \mathrm{(stat.)} \pm 0.027\ \mathrm{(syst.)}\ \mathrm{ps.} Combining this result with the previous result based on charged particle impact parameter distributions yields \tau_{\mathrm{B}} = 1.575 \pm 0.010\ \mathrm{(stat.)} \pm 0.026\ \mathrm{(syst.)}\ \mathrm{ps.

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)

Search for pair-produced neutralinos in events with photons and missing energy from e+e- collisions at √s=130-183 GeV

The events with two photons and missing (transverse) energy collected by the DELPHI detector at centre-of-mass energies between 130 GeV and 183 GeV have been studied to search for processes of the type e+e- → YY with the subsequent decay Y → Xγ, where X is an undetectable neutral particle. Reactions of this kind are expected in supersymmetric models, where the Y particle can be either the lightest neutralino, decaying to a photon and a gravitino, or the next-to-lightest neutralino, decaying to a photon and the lightest neutralino. To study the case of long-lived Y particles, a search for single-photon events with the reconstructed photon axis pointing far from the beam interaction region has also been performed. No evidence for a deviation from Standard Model expectations has been observed in the data and upper limits have been derived on the signal cross-section as a function of the the X and Y masses and of the Y mean decay path

B* production in Z decays

The decay B*→Bγ has been observed with the DELPHI detector at LEP, where the B* meson is produced in Z boson decays. The combination of inclusively reconstructed B mesons with well-measured converted photons yields a measurement of the flavour-averaged B*-B mass difference of 45.5±0.3 (stat.) ±0.8 (syst.) MeV/c2. 95% confidence level upper limits at 6 MeV/c2 are placed on both the isospin (i.e. B+-B0) and the Bs-Bud splitting of the mass difference. The production ratio of B* to B mesons in Z decays is measured to be 0.72±0.03 (stat.) ±0.06 (syst.). Limits on the production cross-section of other hypothetical excited B hadron states decaying radiatively are established. The differential B* cross section has been measured to be in good agreement with the average b fragmentation, yielding an average fractional B* energy of 〈xE〉=0.695±0.009 (stat.) ±0.013 (syst.). From the decay angular distribution the relative contribution of longitudinal B* polarisation states is measured to be σL/(σL + σT) = 0.32 ± 0.04 (stat.) ±0.03 (syst.). © 1995 Springer-Verlag

Measurement of the rate of b anti-b b anti-b events in hadronic Z decays and the extraction of the gluon splitting into b anti-b

The rate $Z \rightarrow b\overline{b}b\overline{b}$ was measured using about $2 x 10^6$ hadronic decays collected by the DELPHI experiment in 1994 and 1995. Events were forced into 3-jets with $y_{min} > 0.06$ and a b-tag was required for every jet. The rate was measured to be: $R_{4b} = BR(Z \to b\overline{b}b\overline{b}) / BR(Z \to hadrons) = (6.0 +- 1.9(stat) +- 1.4(syst.)) x 10^{-4}$ where the invariant mass of every $b\overline{b}$ system is above twice the b quark mass. Using the value of $R_{4b}$ the probability of secondary production of a $b\overline{b}$ pair from a gluon per hadronic $Z$ decay, $g_{bb}$, was extracted and found to be: $g_{bb} = (3.3+-1.0(stat.) +- 0.8(syst.)) x 10^{-3}$

Two particle angular correlations in e+ e- interactions compared with QCD predictions

Two--particle angular correlations in jet cones have been measured in $e^+e^-$ annihilation into hadrons at LEP energies ($\sqrt{s}=$ 91 and 183~GeV) and are compared with QCD predictions using the LPHD hypothesis. Two different functions have been tested. While the differentially normalized correlation function shows substantial deviations from the predictions, a globally normalized correlation function agrees well. The size of $\alpha_S^{\rm eff}$ (and other QCD parameters) and its running with the relevant angular scale, the validity of LPHD, and problems due to non--perturbative effects are discussed critically