Measurement of the branching ratio for D(s)- ---> tau- anti-nu(tau) decays

Using about 3.9 million hadronic Z decays from e+e- collisions recorded by the OPAL detector at LEP at centre-of-mass energies near MZ the branching ratio for the decay D_s -> tau nu_tau has been measured to be (7.0 +/- 2.1(stat) +/- 2.0 (syst))%. This result can be used to derive the decay constant of the D_s meson: f(D_s) = 286 +/- 44(stat) +/- 41(syst) MeV.Comment: 22 pages, 5 figures, Submitted to Physics Letters

Spin alignment of leading K*(892)degrees mesons in hadronic Z degrees decays

Helicity density matrix elements for inclusive K*(892)(0) mesons from hadronic Z(0) decays have been measured over the full range of K*(0) momentum using data taken with the OPAL experiment at LEP. A preference for occupation of the helicity zero state is observed at all scaled momentum x(p) values above 0.3, with the matrix element rho(00) rising to 0.66+/-0.11 for x(p)>0.7. The values of the real part of the off-diagonal element rho(1-1) are negative at large x(p), with a weighted average value of -0.09+/-0.03 for x(p)>0.3, in agreement with new theoretical predictions based on Standard Model parameters and coherent fragmentation of the q (q) over bar system from the Z(0) decay. All other helicity density matrix elements measured are consistent with zero over the entire x(p) range. The K*(0) fragmentation function has also been measured and the total rate determined to be 0.74+/-0.02+/-0.02 K*(892)(0) mesons per hadronic Z(0) decay. (C) 1997 Published by Elsevier Science B.V

Search for the standard model Higgs boson at LEP

The four LEP Collaborations, ALEPH, DELPHI, L3 and OPAL, have collected a total of 2461 pb(-1) of e(+)e(-) collision data at centre-of-mass energies between 189 and 209 GeV. The data are used to search for the Standard Model Higgs boson. The search results of the four Collaborations are combined and examined in a likelihood test for their consistency with two hypotheses: the background hypothesis and the signal plus background hypothesis. The corresponding confidences have been computed as functions of the hypothetical Higgs boson mass. A lower bound of 114.4 GeV/c(2) is established, at the 95% confidence level, on the mass of the Standard Model Higgs boson. The LEP data are also used to set upper bounds on the HZZ coupling for various assumptions concerning the decay of the Higgs boson. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Precision Electroweak Measurements on the Z resonance.

We report on the final electroweak measurements performed with data taken at the Z resonance by the experiments operating at the electron–positron colliders SLC and LEP. The data consist of 17 million Z decays accumulated by the ALEPH, DELPHI, L3 and OPAL experiments at LEP, and 600 thousand Z decays by the SLD experiment using a polarised beam at SLC. The measurements include cross-sections, forward–backward asymmetries and polarised asymmetries. The mass and width of the Z boson, mZ and ΓZ, and its couplings to fermions, for example the ρ parameter and the effective electroweak mixing angle for leptons, are precisely measured: The number of light neutrino species is determined to be 2.9840±0.0082, in agreement with the three observed generations of fundamental fermions. The results are compared to the predictions of the Standard Model (SM). At the Z-pole, electroweak radiative corrections beyond the running of the QED and QCD coupling constants are observed with a significance of five standard deviations, and in agreement with the Standard Model. Of the many Z-pole measurements, the forward–backward asymmetry in b-quark production shows the largest difference with respect to its SM expectation, at the level of 2.8 standard deviations. Through radiative corrections evaluated in the framework of the Standard Model, the Z-pole data are also used to predict the mass of the top quark, , and the mass of the W boson, . These indirect constraints are compared to the direct measurements, providing a stringent test of the SM. Using in addition the direct measurements of mt and mW, the mass of the as yet unobserved SM Higgs boson is predicted with a relative uncertainty of about 50% and found to be less than at 95% confidence level