A measurement of the average lifetime of b-flavoured baryons
The average lifetime of baryons containing a b quark has been measured with the OPAL detector using data collected between 1990 and 1992. Semileptonically decaying b-flavoured baryons which produce a Λ are identified through the charge correlation of the λ and lepton. The decay point of the baryon is estimated by the λ-lepton vertex, and the observed distribution of decay lengths is fitted to determine the average lifetime. In the data sample consisting of 261 right-sign and 104 wrong-sign λ-lepton charge combinations, the average b baryon lifetime is found to be τ = 1.05 +0.23 -0.20 ±0.08 ps, where the first error is statistical and the second systematic.

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: 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: 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: 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: 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: Relativistic Anandan quantum phase in the Lorentz violation background
abstract: We study the influence of a classical background based on the violation of the Lorentz symmetry on the relativistic Anandan quantum phase. We show that the choice of the Lorentz symmetry violation background provides an abelian contribution for the relativistic Anandan quantum phase.

title: Remarks on the Aharonov-Casher dynamics in a CPT-odd Lorentz-violating background
abstract: The Aharonov-Casher problem in the presence of a Lorentz-violating background nonminimally coupled to a spinor and a gauge field is examined. Using an approach based on the self-adjoint extension method, an expression for the bound-state energies is obtained in terms of the physics of the problem by determining the self-adjoint extension parameter.

title: New $CPT$-even and Lorentz-violating nonminimal coupling in the Dirac equation
abstract: In this work, we propose a CPT-even and Lorentz-violating dimension-five nonminimal coupling between fermionic and gauge fields, involving the CTP-even and Lorentz-violating gauge tensor of the SME. This nonminimal coupling modifies the Dirac equation, whose nonrelativistic regime is governed by a Hamiltonian which induces new effects, such as an electric-Zeeman-like spectrum splitting and an anomalous-like contribution to the electron magnetic moment, between others. Some of these new effects allows 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.

title: Effects of quantum deformation on the spin-1/2 Aharonov–Bohm problem
abstract: In this Letter we study the Aharonov–Bohm problem for a spin-1/2 particle in the quantum deformed framework generated by the κ -Poincare–Hopf algebra. We consider the nonrelativistic limit of the κ -deformed Dirac equation and use the spin-dependent term to impose an upper bound on the magnitude of the deformation parameter e . By using the self-adjoint extension approach, we examine the scattering and bound state scenarios. After obtaining the scattering phase shift and the S -matrix, the bound states energies are obtained by analyzing the pole structure of the latter. Using a recently developed general regularization prescription 2012) 041701(R)], the self-adjoint extension parameter is determined in terms of the physics of the problem. For last, we analyze the problem of helicity conservation.