Measurement of W-pair production in e+e−e^+ e^- collisions at 189 GeV

The production of W-pairs is analysed in a data samplecollected by ALEPH at a mean centre-of-mass energy of 188.6 GeV,corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 174.2 pb^-1. Crosssections are given for different topologies of W decays intoleptons or hadrons. Combining all final states and assumingStandard Model branching fractions, the total W-pair cross sectionis measured to be 15.71 +- 0.34 (stat) +- 0.18 (syst) pb.Using also the W-pair data samples collected by ALEPH at lowercentre-of-mass energies, the decay branching fraction of the W bosoninto hadrons is measured to be BR (W hadrons) = 66.97+- 0.65 (stat) +- 0.32 (syst) %, allowing a determination of theCKM matrix element |V(cs)|= 0.951 +- 0.030 (stat) +- 0.015 (syst)

Searches for neutral Higgs bosons in e+e−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/c^2 at 95% confidence level is set. In the MSSM, lower limits of 91.2 and 91.6 GeV/c^2 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 cross section, masses below 106.4 GeV/c^2 are excluded

Determination of sin2 θeff w using jet charge measurements in hadronic Z decays

The electroweak mixing angle is determined with high precision from measurements of the mean difference between forward and backward hemisphere charges in hadronic decays of the Z. A data sample of 2.5 million hadronic Z decays recorded over the period 1990 to 1994 in the ALEPH detector at LEP is used. The mean charge separation between event hemispheres containing the original quark and antiquark is measured for bb̄ and cc̄ events in subsamples selected by their long lifetimes or using fast D*'s. The corresponding average charge separation for light quarks is measured in an inclusive sample from the anticorrelation between charges of opposite hemispheres and agrees with predictions of hadronisation models with a precision of 2%. It is shown that differences between light quark charge separations and the measured average can be determined using hadronisation models, with systematic uncertainties constrained by measurements of inclusive production of kaons, protons and A's. The separations are used to measure the electroweak mixing angle precisely as sin2 θeff w = 0.2322 ± 0.0008(exp. stat.) ±0.0007(exp. syst.) ± 0.0008(sep.). The first two errors are due to purely experimental sources whereas the third stems from uncertainties in the quark charge separations

Measurement of the W mass by direct reconstruction in e+e−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: $WW \to q\overline{q}q\overline{q } m_W = 81.30 +- 0.47(stat.) +- 0.11(syst.) GeV/c^2$, $WW \to l\nu q\overline{q}(l=e,\mu) m_W = 80.54 +- 0.47(stat.) +- 0.11(syst.) GeV/c^2$, $WW \to \tau\nu q\overline{q} m_W = 79.56 +- 1.08(stat.) +- 0.23(syst.) GeV/C62$. The statistical errors are the expected errors for Monte Carlo samples of the same integrated luminosity as the data. The combination of these measurements gives: $m_W = 80.80 +- 0.11(syst.) +- 0.03(LEP energy) GeV/^2$

Electroweak parameters of the z0 resonance and the standard model

Contains fulltext : 124399.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access

STUDY OF THE 4-FERMION FINAL-STATE AT THE Z-RESONANCE

The process e+e- --> llBARffBAR, where 1 is a charged or a neutral lepton and f any charged fermion, is analyzed. The study uses the ALEPH data collected at LEP from 1989 to 1993 at centre-of-mass energies between 88 and 95 GeV, corresponding to almost two million hadronic Z decays and to a total integrated luminosity of 79 pb-1. For all channels, the data agree well with the standard model expectation both in shape and normalization. The indication of an excess in the e+e- --> tau+ tau- ffBAR channel, reported by ALEPH in 1991, is not confirmed

STUDY OF THE 4-FERMION FINAL-STATE AT THE Z-RESONANCE

The process e+e- --> llBARffBAR, where 1 is a charged or a neutral lepton and f any charged fermion, is analyzed. The study uses the ALEPH data collected at LEP from 1989 to 1993 at centre-of-mass energies between 88 and 95 GeV, corresponding to almost two million hadronic Z decays and to a total integrated luminosity of 79 pb-1. For all channels, the data agree well with the standard model expectation both in shape and normalization. The indication of an excess in the e+e- --> tau+ tau- ffBAR channel, reported by ALEPH in 1991, is not confirmed

Inclusive semileptonic branching ratios of b hadrons produced in Z decays

A measurement of the inclusive semileptonic branching ratios of b hadrons produced in Z decay is presented, using four million hadronic events collected by the ALEPH detector from 1991 to 1995. Electrons and muons are selected opposite to b-tagged hemispheres. Two different methods are explored to distinguish the contributions from direct b → Xlν and cascade b → c → Xlν decays to the total lepton yield. One is based on the lepton transverse momentum spectrum, the other makes use of the correlation between the charge of the lepton and charge estimators built from tracks in the opposite hemisphere of the event. The latter method reduces the dependence on the modelling of semileptonic b decays. The results obtained by averaging the two techniques are BR(b → Xlν) = 0.1070 ± 0.0010stat ± 0.0023syst ± 0.0026model , BR(b → c → Xlν) = 0.0818 ± 0.0015stat ± 0.0022syst-0.0014 model+0.0010. © Springer-Verlag / Società Italiana di Fisica 2001

Search for anomalous weak dipole moments of the tau lepton

The anomalous weak dipole moments of the tau lepton are measured in a data sample collected by ALEPHfrom 1990 to 1995 corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 155pb-1. Tau leptons produced in the reaction e+e- -> tau+tau- at energies close to the Z mass are studied using their semileptonic decays to pi, rho, a_1 -> pi 2pi0 or a_1 -> 3 pi. The real and imaginary components of both the anomalous weak magnetic dipole moment and the CP-violating anomalous weak electric dipole moment, Re,mu_tau, Im,mu_tau, Re, d_tau and Im, d_tau, are measured simultaneously by means of a likelihood fit built from the full differential cross section. No evidence of new physics is found. The following bounds are obtained 95% CL: |Re, mu_tau | < 1.14 x 10-3, |Im}, mu_tau | < 2.65 x 10-3, |Re}, d_tau | < 0.91 x 10-3, and |Im, d_tau | < 2.01 x 10-3.Comment: 22 pages, 6 figure