A test of higher order electroweak theory in Z0 decays to two leptons with an associated pair of charged particles
The OPAL detector at LEP was used to study the reactions e + e − → e + e − V, e + e − → μ + μ − V and e + e − → τ + τ − V, where V represents an additional pair of oppositely charged tracks coming directly from the event vertex. Rates for these processes were determined using selection criteria similar to those described in a recent publication by the ALEPH Collaboration in which a possible excess in the τ + τ − V channel was reported. In the OPAL data no discrepancy was found between the measured production rates and those expected from known physics processes in any of the three channels. The measured distributions of the invariant mass of the V and angle between the V and closest lepton are also described adequately within the context of the standard model.

title: Search for massive, unstable photinos that violate R parity
abstract: A search for unstable, massive photinos pair produced in e + e − collisions has been performed using the OPAL detector at LEP. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 21 pb −1 collected at center-of-mass energies near the Z 0 resonance. The unstable photino is assumed to decay into τ ± / gn l ( l = e or μ ) final states, thereby violating individual lepton numbers and R parity. This search is inspired by a particular model of supersymmetry which is of interest within the context of solar neutrino experiments because it allows for a large neutrino magnetic moment. The present search excludes a large portion of the parameter space allowed by the model.

title: A SILICON TRACKER FOR TRACK EXTRAPOLATION INTO NUCLEAR EMULSIONS
abstract: This paper describes the construction of a silicon tracker built to investigate how well silicon detectors can predict the position of particles in nuclear emulsions over a large area. The tracker consists of 72 single-sided silicon microstrip detectors with a total surface of 0.13 m2 distributed over four layers, providing two x and two y coordinate measurements. The set-up was installed in a CERN PS pion beam in September 1997. ( 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

title: Measurement of the $B^0$ - $\bar{B}^0$ mixing, Gamma (Z0 $\to b \bar{b}$) / Gamma (Z0 $\to$ hadrons) and semileptonic branching ratios for $b$ flavored hadrons in hadronic z0 decays
abstract: From a sample of about 450 000 hadronicZ 0 decays, measurements of the average\(B^0 - \bar B^0 \) mixing parameter, χ, the branching fraction ofZ 0 bosons into hadrons containing bottom quarks,\({{\Gamma (Z^0 \to b\bar b)} \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {{\Gamma (Z^0 \to b\bar b)} {\Gamma (Z^0 \to hadrons)}}} \right. \kern-\nulldelimiterspace} {\Gamma (Z^0 \to hadrons)}}\), the average semileptonic branching ratios for such hadrons,B(b→l) andB(b→c→l), and the mean scaled energy of these hadrons, 〈xE〉, are presented. The measurements were obtained using a simultaneous fit to single-lepton and dilepton events collected with the OPAL detector at LEP, including both electrons and muons. The results are 
 
where the errors are statistical and systematic, respectively, in each case. The result forB)b→c→l) excludes decays of the typeb→→l.

title: The OPAL silicon strip microvertex detector with two coordinate readout
abstract: The OPAL experiment at the CERN LEP collider recently upgraded its silicon strip microvertex detector from one coordinate readout (φ only) to two coordinate readout (φ and z). This allows three dimensional vertex reconstruction and should improve lifetime measurements as well as b quark jet identification. This paper describes the new microvertex detector system with emphasis on the novel techniques and new components used to obtain the second coordinate information. These include the use of back-to-back single-sided detectors with orthogonally oriented readout strips, a gold printed circuit on a thin glass substrate to route the z strip signals to the electronics at the end of the detector, and the use of MX7 readout chips. Results on the performance of the new detector are presented.

title: A measurement of strange baryon production in hadronic Z0 decays
abstract: The production of the octet and decuplet baryons Λ, Ξ − , Σ (1385) ± , Ξ(1530) 0 and Ω − and the corresponding antibaryons has been measured in a sample of 485 000 hadronic Z 0 decays. Results on differential and integrated cross sections are presented. The differential cross section of Λ baryons is found to be softer than the one predicted by the Jetset and Herwig Monte Carlo generators. The measured decuplet yields are found to disagree with the simple diquark picture where only one tuning parameter for spin 1 diquarks is used. Comparisons of the momentum spectra for Λ and Ξ − with the predictions of an analytical QCD formula are also presented.

title: Aharonov-Bohm-Casher Problem with a nonminimal Lorentz-violating coupling
abstract: The Aharonov-Bohm-Casher problem is examined for a charged particle describing a circular path in presence of a Lorentz-violating background nonminimally coupled to a spinor and a gauge field. It were evaluated the particle eigenenergies, showing that the LV background is able to lift the original degenerescence in the absence of magnetic field and even for a neutral particle. The Aharonov-Casher phase is used to impose an upper bound on the background magnitude. A similar analysis is accomplished in a space endowed with a topological defect, revealing that both the disclination parameter and the LV background are able to modify the particle eigenenergies. We also analyze the particular case where the particle interacts harmonically with the topological defect and the LV background, with similar results.

title: He–McKellar–Wilkens effect and scalar Aharonov–Bohm effect for a neutral particle based on the Lorentz symmetry violation
abstract: In this contribution, we discuss the He–McKellar–Wilkens effect and the scalar Aharonov–Bohm effect for neutral particles based on the Lorentz symmetry violation background, by showing that the background of the Lorentz symmetry violation yields Abelian quantum phases for a neutral particle. We also study the non-relativistic bound states for a neutral particle interacting with a Coulomb-like potential based on the Lorentz symmetry violation background given by a fixed vector field parallel to the radial direction.

title: Physical regularization for the spin-1/2 Aharonov-Bohm problem in conical space
abstract: We examine the bound state and scattering problem of a spin-one-half particle undergone to an Aharonov-Bohm potential in a conical space in the nonrelativistic limit. The crucial problem of the \delta-function singularity coming from the Zeeman spin interaction with the magnetic flux tube is solved through the self-adjoint extension method. Using two different approaches already known in the literature, both based on the self-adjoint extension method, we obtain the self-adjoint extension parameter to the bound state and scattering scenarios in terms of the physics of the problem. It is shown that such a parameter is the same for both situations. The method is general and is suitable for any quantum system with a singular Hamiltonian that has bound and scattering states.

title: A CPT-even Lorentz-violating nonminimal coupling between fermions and photons
abstract: We propose a CPT-even and Lorentz-violating dimension-five nonminimal coupling between fermionic and gauge fields, involving the CPT-even and Lorentz-violating gauge tensor of the Standard-Model Extension. This nonminimal coupling modifies the nonrelativistic regime of Dirac particles, inducing new effects such as an electric-Zeeman-like spectrum splitting and an anomalous-like contribution to the electron magnetic moment. These new effects allow to constrain the magnitude of this nonminimal coupling in 1 part in $10^{16}.$

title: Finiteness of the noncommutative supersymmetric Maxwell-Chern-Simons theory
abstract: Within the superfield approach, we prove the absence of UV/IR mixing in the three-dimensional noncommutative supersymmetric Maxwell-Chern-Simons theory at any loop order and demonstrate its finiteness in one, three, and higher loop orders.