arXiv subjects

G. Abbiendi

Publications and source records attributed to G. Abbiendi.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2002

Charged Particle Momentum Spectra in e+e- annihilation at sqrt(s) = 192-209 GeV

Charged particle momentum distributions are studied in the reaction e+e- -> hadrons, using data collected with the OPAL detector at centre-of-mass energies from 192 GeV to 209 GeV. The data correspond to an average centre-of- mass energy of 201.7 GeV and a total integrated luminosity of 433 pb-1. The measured distributions and derived quantities, in combination with corresponding results obtained at lower centre-of-mass energies, are compared to QCD predictions in various theoretical approaches to study the energy dependence of the strong interaction and to test QCD as the theory describing it. In general, a good agreement is found between the measurements and the corresponding QCD predictions.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2002

Search for Scalar Top and Scalar Bottom Quarks at LEP

Searches for a scalar top quark and a scalar bottom quark have been performed using a data sample of 438 pb-1 at centre-of-mass energies of sqrt(s) = 192 - 209 GeV collected with the OPAL detector at LEP. No evidence for a signal was found. The 95% confidence level lower limit on the scalar top quark mass is 97.6 GeV if the mixing angle between the supersymmetric partners of the left- and right-handed states of the top quark is zero. When the scalar top quark decouples from the Z0 boson, the lower limit is 95.7 GeV. These limits were obtained assuming that the scalar top quark decays into a charm quark and the lightest neutralino, and that the mass difference between the scalar top quark and the lightest neutralino is larger than 10 GeV. The complementary decay mode of the scalar top quark decaying into a bottom quark, a charged lepton and a scalar neutrino has also been studied. The lower limit on the scalar top quark mass is 93.0 GeV for this decay mode, if the mass difference between the scalar top quark and the scalar neutrino is greater than 10 GeV and if the mixing angle of the scalar top quark is zero. From a search for the scalar bottom quark, a mass limit of 96.6 GeV was obtained if the mass difference between the scalar bottom quark and the lightest neutralino is larger than 10 GeV.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2002

Search for Associated Production of Massive States Decaying into Two Photonsin e+e- Annihilations at sqrt(s) = 88-209 GeV

A search is performed for production of short-lived particles in e+e- -> XY, with X -> gamma gamma and Y -> ffbar, for scalar X and scalar or vector Y. Model-independent limits in the range of 25-60 femtobarns are presented on sigma (e+e- -> XY) x B(X -> ffbar) for centre-of-mass energies in the range 205-207 GeV. The data from all LEP centre-of-mass energies 88-209 GeV are also interpreted in the context of fermiophobic Higgs boson models, for which a lower mass limit of 105.5 GeV is obtained for a "benchmark" fermiophobic Higgs boson.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2002

Performance of the OPAL Si-W luminometer at LEP I-II

A pair of compact Silicon-Tungsten calorimeters was operated in the OPAL experiment at LEP to measure the integrated luminosity from detection of Bhabha electrons scattered at angles between 25 and 58 mrad from the beam line. In the eight years from 1993 to 2000 the detector worked first at the Z mass peak and then at center of mass energies up to 209 GeV. The fine radial and longitudinal segmentation (2.5mm x 1X0) allowed the radial position of electron and photon showers to be measured with a resolution of 130-170 microns and a residual radial bias as small as 7 microns. Reducing the bias in the definition of the inner acceptance radius was the key element in obtaining an experimental systematic error on the integrated luminosity of only 3.4 10^-4. The performance of the detector at both LEP-I and LEP-II is reviewed. Energy resolution, sensitivity to overlapping electromagnetic showers and sensitivity to minimum ionizing particles are discussed.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2002

Measurement of the Charm structure Function F2c of the Photon at LEP

The production of charm quarks is studied in deep-inelastic electron-photon scattering using data recorded by the OPAL detector at LEP at normal e+e- centre-of-mass energies from 183 to 209 GeV. The charm quarks have been identified by full reconstruction of charged D* mesons using their decays into D0pi with the D0 observed in two decay modes with charged particle final states, Kpi and K3pi. The cross-section sigma(D*) for production of charged D* in the reaction e+e- -> e+e-D*X is measured in a restricted kinematical region using two bins in Bjorken x, 0.0014 < x < 0.1 and 0.1 < x < 0.87. From sigma(D*) the charm production cross-section sigma(e+e- -> e+e- ccbar X) and the charm structure function of the photon F 2,c are determined in the region 0.0014 < x < 0.87 and 5 < Q2 < 100 GeV2. For x > 0.1 the perturbative QCD calculation at next-to-leading order agrees perfectly with the measured cross-section. For x < 0.1 the measured cross-section is 43.8 +- 14.3 +- 6.3 +- 2.8 pb with a next-to-leading order prediction of 17.0+2.9-2.3 p.b

hep-ex↗

arXiv2002

Decay-mode independent searches for new scalar bosons with the OPAL detector at LEP

This paper describes topological searches for neutral scalar bosons S0 produced in association with a Z0 boson via the Bjorken process e+e- -> S0Z0 at centre-of-mass energies of 91 GeV and 183-209 GeV. These searches are based on studies of the recoil mass spectrum of Z0 -> e+e- and mu+mu- events on a search for S0Z0 with Z0 -> nunu bar and S0 -> e+e- or photons. They cover the decays of the S0 into an arbitrary combination of hadrons, leptons, photons and invisible particles as well as the possibility that it might be stable. No indication for a signal is found in the data and upper limits on the cross section of the Bjorken process are calculated. Cross-section limits are given in terms of a scale factor k with respect to the Standrad Model cross section for the Higgs-strahlung process e+e- -> H0smZ0. These results can be interpreted in general scenarios independently of the decay modes of the S0. The examples considered here are the production of a single new scalar particle with a decay width smaller than the detector mass resolution, and for the first time, two scenarios with continuous mass distributions, due to a single very broad state or several states close in mass.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2002

Measurement of the Mass of the W Boson in e+e- collisions using the Fully Leptonic Channel

A novel method of determining the mass of the W boson in the W+W- -> lnu lnu channel is presented and applied to 667pb^-1 of data recorded at the center-of- mass energies in the range 183-207 GeV with the OPAL detector at LEP. The Measured energies of charged leptons and the results of a new procedure based on an approximate kinematic reconstruction of the events are combined to give: Mw=80.41+-0.41+-0.13 GeV, when the first error is statistical and the second is systematic. The systematic error is dominated by the uncertainty on the lepton energy, which is calibrated using data, and the parameterization of the variables used in the fitting, which is obtained using Monte Carlo events. Both of these are limited by statistics.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2002

Measurement of the Hadronic Photon Structure Function F2gamma at LEP2

The hadronic structure of the photon F2gamma is measured as a function of Bjorken x and of the photon virtuality Q2 using deep-inelastic scattering data taken by the OPAL detector at LEP at e+e- centre-of-mass energies from 183 to 209 GeV. Previous OPAL measurements of the x dependence of F2gamma are extended to an average Q2 of =780GeV2 using data in the kinematic range 0.15 < x < 0.98. The Q2 evolution of F2gamma is studied for 12.1 < < 780GeV2 using three ranges of x. As predicted by QCD, the data show positive scaling violations in F2gamma for the central x region 0.10-0.60. Several parameterisations of F2gamma are in qualitative agreement with the measurements whereas the quark-parton model prediction fails to describe the data.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2001

Search for Leptoquarks in Electron-Photon Scattering at sqrt(s_ee) up to 209 GeV at LEP

Searches for first generation scalar and vector leptoquarks, and for squarks in R-parity violating SUSY models with the direct decay of the squark into Standard Model particles, have been performed using e+e- collisions collected with the OPAL detector at LEP at e+e- centre-of-mass energies between 189 and 209 GeV. No excess of events is found over the expectation from Standard Model background processes. Limits are computed on the leptoquark couplings for different values of the branching ratio to electron-quark final states.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2001

Search for Doubly Charged Higgs Bosons with the OPAL detector at LEP

A search for pair-produced doubly charged Higgs bosons has been performed using data samples corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 614 pb-1 collected with the OPAL detector at LEP at centre-of-mass energies between 189GeV and 209GeV. No evidence for a signal has been observed. A mass limit of 98.5GeV/c2 at the 95% confidence level has been set for the doubly charged Higgs particle in left-right symmetric models. This is the first search for doubly charged Higgs bosons at centre-of-mass energies larger than 91GeV.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2001

Fermion pair production at LEP2 and interpretations

Preliminary results on $e^+ e^- \to f \bar{f}$, $f=e, μ, τ, q$, including all LEP2 data are discussed. Good agreement is found with the Standard Model up to the highest energies. Limits on possible new physics are extracted.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2001

Particle multiplicity of unbiased gluon jets from e+e- three-jet events

The charged particle multiplicities of two- and three-jet events from the reaction e+e- -> Z0 -> hadrons are measured for Z0 decays to light quark (uds) flavors. Using recent theoretical expressions to account for biases from event selection, results corresponding to unbiased gluon jets are extracted over a range of jet energies from about 11 to 30 GeV. We find consistency between these results and direct measurements of unbiased gluon jet multiplicity from upsilon and Z0 decays. The unbiased gluon jet data including the direct measurements are compared to corresponding results for quark jets. We perform fits based on analytic expressions for particle multiplicity in jets to determine the ratio r = Ng/Nq of multiplicities between gluon and quark jets as a function of energy. We also determine the ratio of slopes, r(1) = (dNg/dy)/(dNq/dy), and of curvatures, r(2) = (d2Ng/dy2)/(d2Nq/dy2), where y specifies the energy scale. At 30 GeV, we find r = 1.422 +/- 0.051, r(1) = 1.761 +/- 0.071 and r(2) = 1.98 +/- 0.13, where the uncertainties are the statistical and systematic terms added in quadrature. These results are in general agreement with theoretical predictions. In addition, we use the measurements of the energy dependence of Ng and Nq to determine an effective value of the ratio of QCD color factors, CA/CF. Our result, CA/CF = 2.23 +/- 0.14 (total), is consistent with the QCD value of 2.25.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2001

Search for Yukawa Production of a Light Neutral Higgs Boson at LEP

Within a Two-Higgs-Doublet Model (2HDM) a search for a light Higgs boson in the mass range of 4-12 GeV has been performed in the Yukawa process e+e- -> b bbar A/h -> b bbar tau+tau-, using the data collected by the OPAL detector at LEP between 1992 and 1995 in e+e- collisions at about 91 GeV centre-of-mass energy. A likelihood selection is applied to separate background and signal. The number of observed events is in good agreement with the expected background. Within a CP-conserving 2HDM type II model the cross-section for Yukawa production depends on xiAd = |tan beta| and xihd = |sin alpha/cos beta| for the production of the CP-odd A and the CP-even h, respectively, where tan beta is the ratio of the vacuum expectation values of the Higgs doublets and alpha is the mixing angle between the neutral CP-even Higgs bosons. From our data 95% C.L. upper limits are derived for xiAd within the range of 8.5 to 13.6 and for xihd between 8.2 to 13.7, depending on the mass of the Higgs boson, assuming a branching fraction into tau+tau- of 100%. An interpretation of the limits within a 2HDM type II model with Standard Model particle content is given. These results impose constraints on several models that have been proposed to explain the recent BNL measurement of the muon anomalous magnetic moment.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2001

Genuine Correlations of Like-Sign Particles in Hadronic Z0 Decays

Correlations among hadrons with the same electric charge produced in Z0 decays are studied using the high statistics data collected from 1991 through 1995 with the OPAL detector at LEP. Normalized factorial cumulants up to fourth order are used to measure genuine particle correlations as a function of the size of phase space domains in rapidity, azimuthal angle and transverse momentum. Both all-charge and like-sign particle combinations show strong positive genuine correlations. One-dimensional cumulants initially increase rapidly with decreasing size of the phase space cells but saturate quickly. In contrast, cumulants in two- and three-dimensional domains continue to increase. The strong rise of the cumulants for all-charge multiplets is increasingly driven by that of like-sign multiplets. This points to the likely influence of Bose-Einstein correlations. Some of the recently proposed algorithms to simulate Bose-Einstein effects, implemented in the Monte Carlo model PYTHIA, are found to reproduce reasonably well the measured second- and higher-order correlations between particles with the same charge as well as those in all-charge particle multiplets.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2001

Search for Single Top Quark Production at LEP2

A search for single top quark production via flavour changing neutral currents (FCNC) was performed with data collected by the OPAL detector at the e+e- collider LEP. Approximately 600 pb-1 of data collected at sqrt(s) = 189 - 209 GeV were used to search for the FCNC process e+ e- -> tc(u) -> bWc(u). This analysis is sensitive to the leptonic and the hadronic decay modes of the W boson. No evidence for a FCNC process is observed. Upper limits at the 95% confidence level on the single top production cross-section as a function of the centre-of-mass energy are derived. Limits on the anomalous coupling parameters kappa_gamma and kappa_Z are determined from these results.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2001

Measurement of the Hadronic Cross-Section for the Scattering of Two Virtual Photons at LEP

The interaction of virtual photons is investigated using the reaction e+e- -> e+e- hadrons based on data taken by the OPAL experiment at e+e- centre-of-mass energies sqrt(s_ee)=189-209 GeV, for W>5 GeV and at an average Q^2 of 17.9 GeV^2. The measured cross-sections are compared to predictions of the Quark Parton Model (QPM), to the Leading Order QCD Monte Carlo model PHOJET to the NLO prediction for the reaction e+e- -> e+e-qqbar, and to BFKL calculations. PHOJET, NLO e+e- -> e+e-qqbar, and QPM describe the data reasonably well, whereas the cross-section predicted by a Leading Order BFKL calculation is too large.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2001

Search for Lepton Flavour Violation in e+e- Collisions at sqrt(s) = 189 - 209 GeV

We search for lepton flavour violating events (e mu, e tau and mu tau) that could be directly produced in e+e- annihilations, using the full available data sample collected with the OPAL detector at centre-of-mass energies between 189 GeV and 209 GeV. In general, the Standard Model expectations describe the data well for all the channels and at each sqrt(s). A single e mu event is observed where according to our Monte Carlo simulations only 0.019 events are expected from Standard Model processes. We obtain the first limits on the cross-sections sigma(e+e- -> e mu, e tau and mu tau) as a function of sqrt(s) at LEP2 energies.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2001

Measurement of the Branching Ratio for the Process b -> tau nu X

The inclusive branching ratio for the process b -> tau nu X has been measured using hadronic Z decays collected by the OPAL experiment at LEP in the years 1992-2000. The result is: BR(b -> tau nu X) = (2.78 +/- 0.18 +/- 0.51)% This measurement is consistent with the Standard Model expectation and puts a constraint of tan(beta) / M(H+/-) < 0.53 GeV-1 at the 95% confidence level on Type II Two Higgs Doublet Models.

hep-ex↗