Production and decay of charmed mesons at the Z resonance

In a sample of 190 000 hadronic Z decays, three signals of charm production are observed: two from the exclusive decays 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 per hadronic decay of the Z is measured to be (5.11±0.34) × 10−3, and the branching ratio B(D0 → 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 found to be 〈XE〉c = 0.504−0.017+0.013±0.008, and implications of the measurements on the pseudoscalar-to-vector production ratio of charmed mesons are discussed

Search for a new weakly interacting particle

A search for events of the type e+e−→ℓ+ℓ−X0, where X0 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/c2 for a value of the ratio of branching fractions, Br(Z→X0l+l−)/Br(Z→l+l−), greater than 2.5 × 10−3 if the X0 has third component of isospin, I3 greater than 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 X0 mass of 60 GeV/c2

Measurement of charge asymmetry in hadronic Z decays

A significant charge asymmetry is observed in the hadronic Z decays with the ALEPH detector at LEP. The asymmetry expressed in terms of the difference in momentum weighted charges in the two event hemispheres is measured to be −= −0.0084±0.0015 (stat.) ±0.0004 (exp. sys.). In the framework of the standard model this can be interpreted as a measurement of the effective electroweak mixing angle, sin2Ow (Mz2=0.2300±0.0034 (stat.) ±0.0010 (exp. sys.) ±0.0038 (theor. sys.) or of the ratio of the vector to axual- vector coupling costants of the electron, gvegAe=+0.073±0.024

Charged particle pair production associated with a lepton pair in Z decays: Indication of an excess in the tau channel

In a sample of 200 000 Z decays, events with two leptons and an additional pair of charged particles are studied. The 35 events found show a possible excess in the tau channel compared with the expectation from electroweak processes. The features of the events are consistent with radiation of virtual photons

Measurement of the tau lepton lifetime

The mean lifetime of the τ lepton is measured from a sample of Z→τ+τ− decays observed with the ALEPH detector at LEP in 1989 and 1990. A new technique is applied to the events containing two one-prong decays: the lifetime is measured from the observed correlation between the impact parameters and azimuthal angles of the two charged tracks. The lifetime is also determined from measured vertex displacements for three-prong decays and track impact parameters for one-prong decays. The combined results is ττ=291 ± 13 (stat) ±6 (syst.) fs

Measurement of isolated photon production in hadronic Z decays

The production of high energy isolated photons in hadronic Z decays is measured with the ALEPH detector at LEP using a sample of 180 000 hadronic events. Such photons are mainly radiated by quarks, thus giving direct insights into the early parton showering mechanism. The observed rate is compared with a QCD calculation of final state radiation from quarks

Measurement of the forward - backward asymmetry in Z ---> b anti-b and Z ---> c anti-c

From a sample of 150 000 hadronic Z decays collected with the ALEPH detector at LEP, events containing prompt leptons are used to measure the forward-backward asymmetries for the channels and , giving the results AFBb=0.126±0.028±0.012 and AFBc=0.064±0.039±0.030. These asymmetries correspond to the value of effective electroweak mixing angle at the Z mass sin2θW(mZ2) = 0.2262±0.0053