text:
# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

The four LEP experiments and SLD have previously presented  parameters derived from the $`\mathrm{Z}`$ resonance using published and preliminary results based on data recorded until the end of 1995 for the LEP experiments and 1998 for SLD. Since 1996 LEP has run at energies above the W-pair production threshold. In 1999 the delivered luminosity was significantly higher than in previous years, and thus the knowledge of the properties of the W boson has been significantly improved. To allow a quick assessment, a box highlighting the updates is given at the beginning of each section.

LEP-I (1990-1995) $`\mathrm{Z}`$-pole measurements are the hadronic and leptonic cross sections, the leptonic forward-backward asymmetries, the $`\tau `$ polarisation asymmetries, the $`\mathrm{b}\overline{\mathrm{b}}`$ and $`\mathrm{c}\overline{\mathrm{c}}`$ partial widths and forward-backward asymmetries and the $`\mathrm{q}\overline{\mathrm{q}}`$ charge asymmetry. The measurements of the left-right cross section asymmetry, the $`\mathrm{b}\overline{\mathrm{b}}`$ and $`\mathrm{c}\overline{\mathrm{c}}`$ partial widths and left-right-forward-backward asymmetries for b and c quarks from SLD are treated consistently with the LEP data. Many technical aspects of their combination are described in References 2, 3 and references therein.

The LEP-II (1996-2000) measurements are di–fermion cross sections and asymmetries; W–pair, Z–pair and single–W production cross sections, electroweak gauge boson couplings. W boson properties, like mass, width and decay branching ratios are also measured.

Several measurements included in the combinations are still preliminary.

This note is organised as follows:

$`\mathrm{Z}`$ Line Shape and Leptonic Forward-Backward Asymmetries;

$`\tau `$ Polarisation;

$`A_{\mathrm{LR}}`$ Measurement at SLD;

Heavy Flavour Analyses;

Inclusive Hadronic Charge Asymmetry;

$`\mathrm{f}\overline{\mathrm{f}}`$ Production at Energies above the Z;

W Boson Properties, including $`m_\mathrm{W}`$, Branching Ratios, W–pair Production Cross Section;

Single–W Production Cross Section;

ZZ Production Cross Section;

Electroweak Gauge Boson Couplings;

Interpretation of the Results, Including the Combination of Results from LEP, SLD, Neutrino Interaction Experiments and from CDF and DØ;

Prospects for the Future.

## 2 Results from the $`𝐙`$ Peak Data

Updates with respect to last summer:
All experiments have updated their results, and all are now final. Recent theoretical developments have been included in the results and fits.

### 2.1 $`𝐙`$ Lineshape and Lepton Forward-Backward Asymmetries

The results presented here are based on the full LEP-I data set. This includes the data taken during the energy scans in 1990 and 1991 in the range111In this note $`\mathrm{}=c=1`$. $`\mathbf{|}\sqrt{𝒔}\mathbf{}𝒎_𝐙\mathbf{|}\mathbf{<}\mathrm{𝟑}`$ GeV, the data collected at the $`𝐙`$ peak in 1992 and 1994 and the precise energy scans in 1993 and 1995 ($`\mathbf{|}\sqrt{𝒔}\mathbf{}𝒎_𝐙\mathbf{|}\mathbf{<}\mathbf{1.8}`$ GeV). The total event statistics are given in Table 1. Details of the individual analyses can be found in References 4, 5, 6, 7.

For the averaging of results the LEP experiments provide a standard set of 9 parameters describing the information contained in hadronic and leptonic cross sections and leptonic forward-backward asymmetries. These parameters are convenient for fitting and averaging since they have small correlations. They are:

* The mass and total width of the Z boson, where the definition is based on the Breit-Wigner denominator $`\mathbf{(}𝒔\mathbf{}𝒎_𝐙^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{+}𝒊𝒔𝚪_𝐙\mathbf{/}𝒎_𝐙\mathbf{)}`$ with $`𝒔`$-dependent width .
* The hadronic pole cross section of Z exchange:

$$𝝈_𝐡^\mathrm{𝟎}\mathbf{}\frac{\mathrm{𝟏𝟐}𝝅}{𝒎_𝐙^\mathrm{𝟐}}\frac{𝚪_{\mathrm{𝐞𝐞}}𝚪_{\mathrm{𝐡𝐚𝐝}}}{𝚪_𝐙^\mathrm{𝟐}}\mathbf{.}$$
(1)
Here $`𝚪_{\mathrm{𝐞𝐞}}`$ and $`𝚪_{\mathrm{𝐡𝐚𝐝}}`$ are the partial widths of the $`𝐙`$ for decays into electrons and hadrons.
* The ratios:

$$𝑹_𝐞\mathbf{}𝚪_{\mathrm{𝐡𝐚𝐝}}\mathbf{/}𝚪_{\mathrm{𝐞𝐞}}\mathbf{,}𝑹_𝝁\mathbf{}𝚪_{\mathrm{𝐡𝐚𝐝}}\mathbf{/}𝚪_{𝝁𝝁}\text{and}𝑹_𝝉\mathbf{}𝚪_{\mathrm{𝐡𝐚𝐝}}\mathbf{/}𝚪_{𝝉𝝉}\mathbf{.}$$
(2)
Here $`𝚪_{𝝁𝝁}`$ and $`𝚪_{𝝉𝝉}`$ are the partial widths of the $`𝐙`$ for the decays $`𝐙\mathbf{}𝝁^\mathbf{+}𝝁^{\mathbf{}}`$ and $`𝐙\mathbf{}𝝉^\mathbf{+}𝝉^{\mathbf{}}`$. Due to the mass of the $`𝝉`$ lepton, a difference of 0.2% is expected between the values for $`𝑹_𝐞`$ and $`𝑹_𝝁`$, and the value for $`𝑹_𝝉`$, even under the assumption of lepton universality .
* The pole asymmetries, $`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}^{\mathrm{𝟎}\mathbf{,}𝐞}`$, $`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}^{\mathrm{𝟎}\mathbf{,}𝝁}`$ and $`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}^{\mathrm{𝟎}\mathbf{,}𝝉}`$, for the processes $`𝐞^\mathbf{+}𝐞^{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{}𝐞^\mathbf{+}𝐞^{\mathbf{}}`$, $`𝐞^\mathbf{+}𝐞^{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{}𝝁^\mathbf{+}𝝁^{\mathbf{}}`$ and $`𝐞^\mathbf{+}𝐞^{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{}𝝉^\mathbf{+}𝝉^{\mathbf{}}`$. In terms of the real parts of the effective vector and axial-vector neutral current couplings of fermions, $`𝒈_{𝑽𝐟}`$ and $`𝒈_{𝑨𝐟}`$, the pole asymmetries are expressed as

$$𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}^{\mathrm{𝟎}\mathbf{,}𝐟}\mathbf{}\frac{\mathrm{𝟑}}{\mathrm{𝟒}}𝓐_𝐞𝓐_𝐟$$
(3)
with

$$𝓐_𝐟\mathbf{}\frac{\mathrm{𝟐}𝒈_{𝑽𝐟}𝒈_{𝑨𝐟}}{𝒈_{𝑽𝐟}^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{+}𝒈_{𝑨𝐟}^\mathrm{𝟐}}\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟐}\frac{𝒈_{𝑽𝐟}\mathbf{/}𝒈_{𝑨𝐟}}{\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{+}\mathbf{(}𝒈_{𝑽𝐟}\mathbf{/}𝒈_{𝑨𝐟}\mathbf{)}^\mathrm{𝟐}}\mathbf{.}$$
(4)

The imaginary parts of the vector and axial-vector coupling constants as well as real and imaginary parts of the photon vacuum polarisation are taken into account explicitly in the fitting formulae and are fixed to their Standard Model values. The fitting procedure takes into account the effects of initial-state radiation  to $`𝓞\mathbf{(}𝜶^\mathrm{𝟑}\mathbf{)}`$ , as well as the $`𝒕`$-channel and the $`𝒔`$-$`𝒕`$ interference contributions in the case of $`𝐞^\mathbf{+}𝐞^{\mathbf{}}`$ final states.

The set of 9 parameters does not describe hadron and lepton-pair production completely, because it does not include the interference of the $`𝒔`$-channel $`𝐙`$ exchange with the $`𝒔`$-channel $`𝜸`$ exchange. For the results presented in this section and used in the rest of the note, the $`𝜸`$-exchange contributions and the hadronic $`𝜸𝐙`$ interference terms are fixed to their Standard Model values. The leptonic $`𝜸𝐙`$ interference terms are expressed in terms of the effective couplings.

The four sets of 9 parameters provided by the LEP experiments are presented in Table 2. For performing the average over these four sets of nine parameters, the overall covariance matrix is constructed from the covariance matrices of the individual LEP experiments and common systematic errors . The common systematic errors include theoretical errors as well as errors arising from the uncertainty in the LEP beam energy. The beam energy uncertainty contributes an uncertainty of $`\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{1.7}\mathrm{𝐌𝐞𝐕}`$ to $`𝒎_𝐙`$ and $`\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{1.2}\mathrm{𝐌𝐞𝐕}`$ to $`𝚪_𝐙`$. In addition, the uncertainty in the centre-of-mass energy spread of about $`\mathbf{\pm }\mathrm{𝟏}\mathrm{𝐌𝐞𝐕}`$ contributes $`\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.2}\mathrm{𝐌𝐞𝐕}`$ to $`𝚪_𝐙`$. The theoretical error on calculations of the small-angle Bhabha cross section is $`\mathbf{\pm }`$0.054 % for OPAL and $`\mathbf{\pm }`$0.061 % for all other experiments, and results in the largest common systematic uncertainty on $`𝝈_𝐡^\mathrm{𝟎}`$. QED radiation, dominated by photon radiation from the initial state electrons, contributes a common uncertainty of $`\mathbf{\pm }`$0.02 % on $`𝝈_𝐡^\mathrm{𝟎}`$, of $`\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.3}`$ MeV on $`𝒎_𝐙`$ and of $`\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.2}`$ MeV on $`𝚪_𝐙`$. The contribution of $`𝒕`$-channel diagrams and the $`𝒔`$-$`𝒕`$ interference in $`𝐙\mathbf{}𝐞^\mathbf{+}𝐞^{\mathbf{}}`$ leads to an additional theoretical uncertainty estimated to be $`\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.24}`$ on $`𝑹_𝐞`$ and $`\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.0014}`$ on $`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}^{\mathrm{𝟎}\mathbf{,}𝐞}`$, which are fully anti–correlated. Uncertainties from the model-independent parameterisation of the energy dependence of the cross section are almost negligible, if the definitions of Reference  are applied. Through unavoidable Standard Model remnants, dominated by the need to fix the $`𝜸`$-$`𝐙`$ interference contribution in the $`𝐪\overline{𝐪}`$ channel, there is some small dependence of $`\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.2}`$ MeV of $`𝒎_𝐙`$ on the Higgs mass, $`𝒎_𝐇`$ (in the range 100 GeV to 1000 GeV) and the value of the electromagnetic coupling constant. Such “parametric” errors are negligible for the other pseudo-observables. The combined parameter set and its correlation matrix are given in Table 3.

If lepton universality is assumed, the set of 9 parameters is reduced to a set of 5 parameters. $`𝑹_{\mathbf{}}`$ is defined as $`𝑹_{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{}𝚪_{\mathrm{𝐡𝐚𝐝}}\mathbf{/}𝚪_{\mathbf{}\mathbf{}}`$, where $`𝚪_{\mathbf{}\mathbf{}}`$ refers to the partial $`𝐙`$ width for the decay into a pair of massless charged leptons. The data of each of the four LEP experiments are consistent with lepton universality (the difference in $`𝝌^\mathrm{𝟐}`$ over the difference in d.o.f. with and without the assumption of lepton universality is 3/4, 6/4, 5/4 and 3/4 for ALEPH, DELPHI, L3 and OPAL, respectively). The lower part of Table 3 gives the combined result and the corresponding correlation matrix. Figure 1 shows, for each lepton species and for the combination assuming lepton universality, the resulting 68% probability contours in the $`𝑹_{\mathbf{}}`$-$`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}^{\mathrm{𝟎}\mathbf{,}\mathbf{}}`$ plane. Good agreement is observed.

For completeness the partial decay widths of the $`𝐙`$ boson are listed in Table 4, although they are more correlated than the ratios given in Table 3. The leptonic pole cross-section, $`𝝈_{\mathbf{}}^\mathrm{𝟎}`$, defined as

$$𝝈_{\mathbf{}}^\mathrm{𝟎}\mathbf{}\frac{\mathrm{𝟏𝟐}𝝅}{𝒎_𝐙^\mathrm{𝟐}}\frac{𝚪_{\mathbf{}\mathbf{}}^\mathrm{𝟐}}{𝚪_𝐙^\mathrm{𝟐}}\mathbf{,}$$

in analogy to $`𝝈_𝐡^\mathrm{𝟎}`$, is shown in the last line of the Table. Because QCD final state corrections appear quadratically in the denominator via $`𝚪_𝐙`$, $`𝝈_{\mathbf{}}^\mathrm{𝟎}`$ has a higher sensitivity to $`𝜶_𝒔`$ than $`𝝈_𝐡^\mathrm{𝟎}`$ or $`𝑹_{\mathbf{}}`$, where the dependence on QCD corrections is only linear.

## 3 The $`𝝉`$ Polarisation

Updates with respect to last summer:
DELPHI have finalised their results. OPAL have updated their results.

The longitudinal $`𝝉`$ polarisation $`𝓟_𝝉`$ of $`𝝉`$ pairs produced in $`𝐙`$ decays is defined as

$`𝓟_𝝉`$ $`\mathbf{}`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{𝝈_𝐑\mathbf{}𝝈_𝐋}{𝝈_𝐑\mathbf{+}𝝈_𝐋}}\mathbf{,}`$ (5)
where $`𝝈_𝐑`$ and $`𝝈_𝐋`$ are the $`𝝉`$-pair cross sections for the production of a right-handed and left-handed $`𝝉^{\mathbf{}}`$, respectively. The distribution of $`𝓟_𝝉`$ as a function of the polar scattering angle $`𝜽`$ between the $`𝐞^{\mathbf{}}`$ and the $`𝝉^{\mathbf{}}`$, at $`\sqrt{𝒔}\mathbf{=}𝒎_𝐙`$, is given by

$`𝓟_𝝉\mathbf{(}\mathrm{𝐜𝐨𝐬}𝜽\mathbf{)}`$ $`\mathbf{=}`$ $`\mathbf{}{\displaystyle \frac{𝓐_𝝉\mathbf{(}\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{+}\mathrm{𝐜𝐨𝐬}^\mathrm{𝟐}𝜽\mathbf{)}\mathbf{+}\mathrm{𝟐}𝓐_𝐞\mathrm{𝐜𝐨𝐬}𝜽}{\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{+}\mathrm{𝐜𝐨𝐬}^\mathrm{𝟐}𝜽\mathbf{+}\mathrm{𝟐}𝓐_𝝉𝓐_𝐞\mathrm{𝐜𝐨𝐬}𝜽}}\mathbf{,}`$ (6)
with $`𝓐_𝐞`$ and $`𝓐_𝝉`$ as defined in Equation (4). Equation (6) is valid for pure Z exchange. The effects of $`𝜸`$ exchange, $`𝜸`$-$`𝐙`$ interference and electromagnetic radiative corrections in the initial and final states are taken into account in the experimental analyses. In particular, these corrections account for the $`\sqrt{𝒔}`$ dependence of the $`𝝉`$ polarisation, which is important because the off-peak data are included in the event samples for all experiments. When averaged over all production angles $`𝓟_𝝉`$ is a measurement of $`𝓐_𝝉`$. As a function of $`\mathrm{𝐜𝐨𝐬}𝜽`$, $`𝓟_𝝉\mathbf{(}\mathrm{𝐜𝐨𝐬}𝜽\mathbf{)}`$ provides nearly independent determinations of both $`𝓐_𝝉`$ and $`𝓐_𝐞`$, thus allowing a test of the universality of the couplings of the $`𝐙`$ to $`𝐞`$ and $`𝝉`$.

Each experiment makes separate $`𝓟_𝝉`$ measurements using the five $`𝝉`$ decay modes e$`𝝂\overline{𝝂}`$, $`𝝁𝝂\overline{𝝂}`$, $`𝝅𝝂`$, $`𝝆𝝂`$ and $`𝒂_\mathrm{𝟏}𝝂`$. The $`𝝆𝝂`$ and $`𝝅𝝂`$ are the most sensitive channels, contributing weights of about $`\mathrm{𝟒𝟎}\mathbf{\%}`$ each in the average. DELPHI and L3 have also used an inclusive hadronic analysis. The combination is made using the results from each experiment already averaged over the $`𝝉`$ decay modes.

### 3.1 Results

Tables 5 and 6 show the most recent results for $`𝓐_𝝉`$ and $`𝓐_𝐞`$ obtained by the four LEP collaborations and their combination. Common systematic errors arise from uncertainties in the decay radiation in the $`𝝅𝝂`$ and $`𝝆𝝂`$ channels, and in the modelling of the $`𝒂_\mathrm{𝟏}`$ decays. These errors need further investigation and might need to be taken into account for the final results (see Reference 18). For the current combination the systematic errors on $`𝓐_𝝉`$ and $`𝓐_𝐞`$ are treated as uncorrelated between the experiments. The statistical correlation between the extracted values of $`𝓐_𝝉`$ and $`𝓐_𝐞`$ is small ($`\mathbf{}`$ 5%), and is neglected.

The average values for $`𝓐_𝝉`$ and $`𝓐_𝐞`$:

$`𝓐_𝝉`$ $`\mathbf{=}`$ $`\mathbf{0.1439}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.0042}`$ (7)
$`𝓐_𝐞`$ $`\mathbf{=}`$ $`\mathbf{0.1498}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.0048}\mathbf{,}`$ (8)
are compatible, in agreement with lepton universality. Assuming $`𝐞`$-$`𝝉`$ universality, the values for $`𝓐_𝝉`$ and $`𝓐_𝐞`$ can be combined. This combination is performed neglecting any possible common systematic error between $`𝓐_𝝉`$ and $`𝓐_𝐞`$ within a given experiment, as these errors are also estimated to be small. The combined result of $`𝓐_𝝉`$ and $`𝓐_𝐞`$ is:

$`𝓐_{\mathbf{}}`$ $`\mathbf{=}`$ $`\mathbf{0.1464}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.0032}\mathbf{.}`$ (9)
## 4 Measurement of $`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐋𝐑}}`$ at SLC

Updates with respect to last summer:
SLD have final results for $`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐋𝐑}}`$ and the leptonic left-right forward-backward asymmetries.

The measurement of the left-right cross section asymmetry ($`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐋𝐑}}`$) by SLD at the SLC provides a systematically precise, statistics-dominated determination of the coupling $`𝓐_𝐞`$, and is presently the most precise single measurement, with the smallest systematic error, of this quantity. In principle the analysis is straightforward: one counts the numbers of Z bosons produced by left and right longitudinally polarised electrons, forms an asymmetry, and then divides by the luminosity-weighted e- beam polarisation magnitude (the e+ beam is not polarised):

$$𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐋𝐑}}\mathbf{=}\frac{𝑵_𝐋\mathbf{}𝑵_𝐑}{𝑵_𝐋\mathbf{+}𝑵_𝐑}\frac{\mathrm{𝟏}}{𝑷_𝐞}\mathbf{.}$$
(10)
Since the advent of high polarisation “strained lattice” GaAs photocathodes (1994), the average electron polarisation at the interaction point has been in the range 73% to 77%. The method requires no detailed final state event identification ($`𝐞^\mathbf{+}𝐞^{\mathbf{}}`$ final state events are removed, as are non-Z backgrounds) and is insensitive to all acceptance and efficiency effects. The small total systematic error of 0.64% is dominated by the 0.50% systematic error in the determination of the e- polarisation. The statistical error on $`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐋𝐑}}`$ is about 1.3%.

The precision Compton polarimeter detects beam electrons that have been scattered by photons from a circularly polarised laser. Two additional polarimeters that are sensitive to the Compton-scattered photons and which are operated in the absence of positron beam, have verified the precision polarimeter result and are used to set a calibration uncertainty of 0.4%. In 1998, a dedicated experiment was performed in order to directly test the expectation that accidental polarisation of the positron beam was negligible; the e+ polarisation was found to be consistent with zero ($`\mathbf{}\mathbf{0.02}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.07}`$)%.

The $`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐋𝐑}}`$ analysis includes several very small corrections. The polarimeter result is corrected for higher order QED and accelerator related effects, a total of ($`\mathbf{}\mathbf{0.22}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.15}`$)% for 1997/98 data. The event asymmetry is corrected for backgrounds and accelerator asymmetries, a total of ($`\mathbf{+}\mathbf{0.15}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.07}`$)%, for 1997/98 data.

The translation of the $`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐋𝐑}}`$ result to a “pole” value is a ($`\mathbf{}\mathbf{2.5}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.4}`$)% effect, where the uncertainty arises from the precision of the centre-of-mass energy determination. This small error due to the beam energy measurement is slightly larger than seen previously (it was closer to 0.3%) and reflects the results of a scan of the Z peak used to calibrate the energy spectrometers to $`𝒎_𝐙`$ from LEP data, which was performed for the first time during the most recent SLC run. The pole value, $`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐋𝐑}}^\mathrm{𝟎}`$, is equivalent to a measurement of $`𝓐_𝐞`$.

The 2000 result is included in a running average of all of the SLD $`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐋𝐑}}`$ measurements (1992, 1993, 1994/1995, 1996, 1997 and 1998). This updated result for $`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐋𝐑}}^\mathrm{𝟎}`$ ($`𝓐_𝐞`$) is $`\mathbf{0.1514}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.0022}`$. In addition, the left-right forward-backward asymmetries for leptonic final states are measured. From these, the parameters $`𝓐_𝐞`$, $`𝓐_𝝁`$ and $`𝓐_𝝉`$ can be determined. The results are $`𝓐_𝐞\mathbf{=}\mathbf{0.1544}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.0060}`$, $`𝓐_𝝁\mathbf{=}\mathbf{0.142}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.015}`$ and $`𝓐_𝝉\mathbf{=}\mathbf{0.136}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.015}`$. The lepton-based result for $`𝓐_𝐞`$ can be combined with the $`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐋𝐑}}^\mathrm{𝟎}`$ result to yield $`𝓐_𝐞\mathbf{=}\mathbf{0.1516}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.0021}`$, including small correlations in the systematic errors. The correlation of this measurement with $`𝓐_𝝁`$ and $`𝓐_𝝉`$ is indicated in Table 7.

Assuming lepton universality, the $`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐋𝐑}}`$ result and the results on the leptonic left-right forward-backward asymmetries can be combined, while accounting for small correlated systematic errors, yielding

$$𝓐_{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{=}\mathbf{0.1513}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.0021}\mathbf{.}$$
(11)
## 5 Results from b and c Quarks

Updates with respect to last summer:
DELPHI has presented new measurements of $`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}^{𝐛\overline{𝐛}}`$ and $`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}^{𝐜\overline{𝐜}}`$. SLD has presented updated measurements of $`𝑹_𝐛`$, $`𝑹_𝐜`$, $`𝓐_𝐛`$ with leptons and vertex charge and $`𝓐_𝐜`$ with leptons and D-mesons. ALEPH has presented a new measurement of $`\mathrm{𝐁𝐑}\mathbf{(}𝐛\mathbf{}\mathbf{}\mathbf{)}`$ and $`\mathrm{𝐁𝐑}\mathbf{(}𝐛\mathbf{}𝐜\mathbf{}\overline{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{)}`$ and L3 has published their measurement of $`𝑹_𝐛`$ and $`\mathrm{𝐁𝐑}\mathbf{(}𝐛\mathbf{}\mathbf{}\mathbf{)}`$.

The relevant quantities in the heavy quark sector at LEP/SLD which are currently determined by the combination procedure are:

* The ratios of the b and c quark partial widths of the Z to its total hadronic partial width: $`𝑹_𝐛^\mathrm{𝟎}\mathbf{}𝚪_{𝐛\overline{𝐛}}\mathbf{/}𝚪_{\mathrm{𝐡𝐚𝐝}}`$ and $`𝑹_𝐜^\mathrm{𝟎}\mathbf{}𝚪_{𝐜\overline{𝐜}}\mathbf{/}𝚪_{\mathrm{𝐡𝐚𝐝}}`$.
* The forward-backward asymmetries, $`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}^{𝐛\overline{𝐛}}`$ and $`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}^{𝐜\overline{𝐜}}`$.
* The final state coupling parameters $`𝓐_𝐛\mathbf{,}𝓐_𝐜`$ obtained from the left-right-forward-backward asymmetry at SLD.
* The semileptonic branching ratios, $`\mathrm{𝐁𝐑}\mathbf{(}𝐛\mathbf{}\mathbf{}\mathbf{)}`$, $`\mathrm{𝐁𝐑}\mathbf{(}𝐛\mathbf{}𝐜\mathbf{}\overline{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{)}`$ and $`\mathrm{𝐁𝐑}\mathbf{(}𝐜\mathbf{}\mathbf{}\mathbf{)}`$, and the average time-integrated $`𝐁^\mathrm{𝟎}\overline{𝐁^\mathrm{𝟎}}`$ mixing parameter, $`\overline{𝝌}`$. These are often determined at the same time or with similar methods as the asymmetries. Including them in the combination greatly reduces the errors. For example the measurements of $`\overline{𝝌}`$ act as an effective measurement of the charge tagging efficiency, so that all errors coming from the mixture of different lepton sources in $`𝐛\overline{𝐛}`$ events cancel in the asymmetries.
* The probability that a c quark produces a $`𝐃^\mathbf{+}`$, $`𝐃_𝐬`$, $`𝐃^\mathbf{}\mathbf{+}`$ meson222Actually the product $`\mathrm{P}(\mathrm{c}\mathrm{D}^+)\times \mathrm{BR}(\mathrm{D}^+\pi ^+\mathrm{D}^0)`$ is fitted because this quantity is needed and measured by the LEP experiments. or a charmed baryon. The probability that a c quark fragments into a $`𝐃^\mathrm{𝟎}`$ is calculated from the constraint that the probabilities for the weakly decaying charmed hadrons add up to one.

A full description of the averaging procedure is published in ; the main motivations for the procedure are outlined here. Several analyses measure more than one parameter simultaneously, for example the asymmetry measurements with leptons or D mesons. Some of the measurements of electroweak parameters depend explicitly on the values of other parameters, for example $`𝑹_𝐛`$ depends on $`𝑹_𝐜`$. The common tagging and analysis techniques lead to common sources of systematic uncertainty, in particular for the double-tag measurements of $`𝑹_𝐛`$. The starting point for the combination is to ensure that all the analyses use a common set of assumptions for input parameters which give rise to systematic uncertainties. The input parameters are updated and extended  to accommodate new analyses and more recent measurements. The correlations and interdependences of the input measurements are then taken into account in a $`𝝌^\mathrm{𝟐}`$ minimisation which results in the combined electroweak parameters and their correlation matrix.

In a first fit the asymmetry measurements on peak, above peak and below peak are corrected to three common centre-of-mass energies and are then combined at each energy point. The results of this fit, including the SLD results, are given in Appendix A. The dependence of the average asymmetries on centre-of-mass energy agrees with the prediction of the Standard Model. A second fit is made to derive the pole asymmetries $`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}^{\mathrm{𝟎}\mathbf{,}𝐪}`$ from the measured quark asymmetries, in which all the off-peak asymmetry measurements are corrected to the peak energy before combining. This fit determines a total of 14 parameters: the two partial widths, two LEP asymmetries, two coupling parameters from SLD, three semileptonic branching ratios, the average mixing parameter and the probabilities for c quark to fragment into a $`𝐃^\mathbf{+}`$, a $`𝐃_𝐬`$, a $`𝐃^\mathbf{}\mathbf{+}`$, or a charmed baryon. If the SLD measurements are excluded from the fit there are 12 parameters to be determined.

### 5.1 Summary of Measurements and Averaging Procedure

All measurements are presented by the LEP and SLD collaborations in a consistent manner for the purpose of combination. The tables prepared by the experiments include a detailed breakdown of the systematic error of each measurement and its dependence on other electroweak parameters. Where necessary, the experiments apply small corrections to their results in order to use agreed values and ranges for the input parameters to calculate systematic errors. The measurements, corrected where necessary, are summarised in Appendix A in Tables 4463, where the statistical and systematic errors are quoted separately. The correlated systematic entries are from physics sources shared with one or more other results in the table and are derived from the full breakdown of common systematic uncertainties. The uncorrelated systematic entries come from the remaining sources.

#### 5.1.1 Averaging Procedure

A $`𝝌^\mathrm{𝟐}`$ minimisation procedure is used to derive the values of the heavy-flavour electroweak parameters as published in Reference 3. The full statistical and systematic covariance matrix for all measurements is calculated. This correlation matrix takes into account correlations between different measurements of one experiment and between different experiments. The explicit dependence of each measurement on the other parameters is also accounted for.

Since c-quark events form the main background in the $`𝑹_𝐛`$ analyses, in the lifetime $`𝑹_𝐛`$ analyses, the value of $`𝑹_𝐛`$ depends on the value of $`𝑹_𝐜`$. If $`𝑹_𝐛`$ and $`𝑹_𝐜`$ are measured in the same analysis, this is reflected in the correlation matrix for the results. However the analyses do not determine $`𝑹_𝐛`$ and $`𝑹_𝐜`$ simultaneously but instead measure $`𝑹_𝐛`$ for an assumed value of $`𝑹_𝐜`$. In this case the dependence is parameterised as

$`𝑹_𝐛`$ $`\mathbf{=}`$ $`𝑹_𝐛^{\mathrm{𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐬}}\mathbf{+}𝒂\mathbf{(}𝑹_𝐜\mathbf{)}{\displaystyle \frac{\mathbf{(}𝑹_𝐜\mathbf{}𝑹_𝐜^{\mathrm{𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝}}\mathbf{)}}{𝑹_𝐜}}\mathbf{.}`$ (12)
In this expression, $`𝑹_𝐛^{\mathrm{𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐬}}`$ is the result of the analysis assuming a value of $`𝑹_𝐜\mathbf{=}𝑹_𝐜^{\mathrm{𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝}}`$. The values of $`𝑹_𝐜^{\mathrm{𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝}}`$ and the coefficients $`𝒂\mathbf{(}𝑹_𝐜\mathbf{)}`$ are given in Table 44 where appropriate. The dependence of all other measurements on other electroweak parameters is treated in the same way, with coefficients $`𝒂\mathbf{(}𝒙\mathbf{)}`$ describing the dependence on parameter $`𝒙`$.

#### 5.1.2 Partial Width Measurements

The measurements of $`𝑹_𝐛`$ and $`𝑹_𝐜`$ fall into two categories. In the first, called a single-tag measurement, a method to select b or c events is devised, and the number of tagged events is counted. This number must then be corrected for backgrounds from other flavours and for the tagging efficiency to calculate the true fraction of hadronic $`𝐙`$ decays of that flavour. The dominant systematic errors come from understanding the branching ratios and detection efficiencies which give the overall tagging efficiency. For the second technique, called a double-tag measurement, each event is divided into two hemispheres. With $`𝑵_𝒕`$ being the number of tagged hemispheres, $`𝑵_{𝒕𝒕}`$ the number of events with both hemispheres tagged and $`𝑵_{\mathrm{𝐡𝐚𝐝}}`$ the total number of hadronic $`𝐙`$ decays one has

$`{\displaystyle \frac{𝑵_𝒕}{\mathrm{𝟐}𝑵_{\mathrm{𝐡𝐚𝐝}}}}`$ $`\mathbf{=}`$ $`𝜺_𝐛𝑹_𝐛\mathbf{+}𝜺_𝐜𝑹_𝐜\mathbf{+}𝜺_{\mathrm{𝐮𝐝𝐬}}\mathbf{(}\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{}𝑹_𝐛\mathbf{}𝑹_𝐜\mathbf{)}\mathbf{,}`$ (13)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{𝑵_{𝒕𝒕}}{𝑵_{\mathrm{𝐡𝐚𝐝}}}}`$ $`\mathbf{=}`$ $`𝓒_𝐛𝜺_𝐛^\mathrm{𝟐}𝑹_𝐛\mathbf{+}𝓒_𝐜𝜺_𝐜^\mathrm{𝟐}𝑹_𝐜\mathbf{+}𝓒_{\mathrm{𝐮𝐝𝐬}}𝜺_{\mathrm{𝐮𝐝𝐬}}^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{(}\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{}𝑹_𝐛\mathbf{}𝑹_𝐜\mathbf{)}\mathbf{,}`$ (14)
where $`𝜺_𝐛`$, $`𝜺_𝐜`$ and $`𝜺_{\mathrm{𝐮𝐝𝐬}}`$ are the tagging efficiencies per hemisphere for b, c and light-quark events, and $`𝓒_𝐪\mathbf{}\mathrm{𝟏}`$ accounts for the fact that the tagging efficiencies between the hemispheres may be correlated. In the case of $`𝑹_𝐛`$ one has $`𝜺_𝐛\mathbf{}𝜺_𝐜\mathbf{}𝜺_{\mathrm{𝐮𝐝𝐬}}`$, $`𝓒_𝐛\mathbf{}\mathrm{𝟏}`$. The correlations for the other flavours can be neglected. These equations can be solved to give $`𝑹_𝐛`$ and $`𝜺_𝐛`$. Neglecting the c and uds backgrounds and the correlations they are approximately given by

$`𝜺_𝐛`$ $`\mathbf{}`$ $`\mathrm{𝟐}𝑵_{𝒕𝒕}\mathbf{/}𝑵_𝒕\mathbf{,}`$ (15)
$`𝑹_𝐛`$ $`\mathbf{}`$ $`𝑵_𝒕^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{/}\mathbf{(}\mathrm{𝟒}𝑵_{𝒕𝒕}𝑵_{\mathrm{𝐡𝐚𝐝}}\mathbf{)}\mathbf{.}`$ (16)
The double-tagging method has the advantage that the b tagging efficiency is derived from the data, reducing the systematic error. The residual background of other flavours in the sample, and the evaluation of the correlation between the tagging efficiencies in the two hemispheres of the event are the main sources of systematic uncertainty in such an analysis.

This method can be enhanced by including more tags. All additional efficiencies can be determined from the data, reducing the statistical uncertainties without adding new systematic uncertainties.

Small corrections must be applied to the results to obtain the partial width ratios $`𝑹_𝐛^\mathrm{𝟎}`$ and $`𝑹_𝐜^\mathrm{𝟎}`$ from the cross section ratios $`𝑹_𝐛`$ and $`𝑹_𝐜`$. These corrections depend slightly on the invariant mass cutoff of the simulations used by the experiments, so that they are applied by the collaborations before the combination.

The partial width measurements included are:

* Lifetime (and lepton) double tag measurements for $`𝑹_𝐛`$ from ALEPH, DELPHI, L3, OPAL and SLD. These are the most precise determinations of $`𝑹_𝐛`$. Since they completely dominate the combined result, no other $`𝑹_𝐛`$ measurements are used at present. The basic features of the double-tag technique are discussed above. In the ALEPH, DELPHI, OPAL and SLD measurements the charm rejection is enhanced by using the invariant mass information. DELPHI, OPAL and SLD also add kinematic information from the particles at the secondary vertex. The ALEPH and DELPHI measurements make use of several different tags; this improves the statistical accuracy and reduces the systematic errors due to hemisphere correlations and charm contamination, compared with the simple single/double tag.
* Analyses with D/$`𝐃^\mathbf{}\mathbf{\pm }`$ mesons to measure $`𝑹_𝐜`$ from ALEPH, DELPHI and OPAL. All measurements are constructed in such a way that no assumptions on the energy dependence of charm fragmentation are necessary. The available measurements can be divided into four groups:

+ inclusive/exclusive double tag (ALEPH, DELPHI, OPAL): In a first step $`𝐃^\mathbf{}\mathbf{\pm }`$ mesons are reconstructed in several decay channels and their production rate is measured, which depends on the product $`𝑹_𝐜\mathbf{\times }𝐏\mathbf{(}𝐜\mathbf{}𝐃^\mathbf{}\mathbf{+}\mathbf{)}\mathbf{\times }\mathrm{𝐁𝐑}\mathbf{(}𝐃^\mathbf{}\mathbf{+}\mathbf{}𝝅^\mathbf{+}𝐃^\mathrm{𝟎}\mathbf{)}`$. This sample of $`𝐜\overline{𝐜}`$ (and $`𝐛\overline{𝐛}`$) events is then used to measure $`𝐏\mathbf{(}𝐜\mathbf{}𝐃^\mathbf{}\mathbf{+}\mathbf{)}\mathbf{\times }\mathrm{𝐁𝐑}\mathbf{(}𝐃^\mathbf{}\mathbf{+}\mathbf{}𝝅^\mathbf{+}𝐃^\mathrm{𝟎}\mathbf{)}`$ using a slow pion tag in the opposite hemisphere. In the ALEPH measurement $`𝑹_𝐜`$ is unfolded internally in the analysis so that no explicit $`𝐏\mathbf{(}𝐜\mathbf{}𝐃^\mathbf{}\mathbf{+}\mathbf{)}\mathbf{\times }\mathrm{𝐁𝐑}\mathbf{(}𝐃^\mathbf{}\mathbf{+}\mathbf{}𝝅^\mathbf{+}𝐃^\mathrm{𝟎}\mathbf{)}`$ is available.
    + exclusive double tag (ALEPH): This analysis uses exclusively reconstructed $`𝐃^\mathbf{}\mathbf{+}`$, $`𝐃^\mathrm{𝟎}`$ and $`𝐃^\mathbf{+}`$ mesons in different decay channels. It has lower statistics but better purity than the inclusive analyses.
    + reconstruction of all weakly decaying charmed states (ALEPH, DELPHI, OPAL): These analyses make the assumption that the production rates of $`𝐃^\mathrm{𝟎}`$, $`𝐃^\mathbf{+}`$, $`𝐃_𝐬`$ and $`𝚲_𝐜`$ in $`𝐜\overline{𝐜}`$ events add up to one with small corrections due to unmeasured charms strange baryons. This is a single tag measurement, relying only on knowing the decay branching ratios of the charm hadrons. These analyses are also used to measure the c hadron production ratios which are needed for the $`𝑹_𝐛`$ analyses.
* A lifetime plus mass double tag from SLD to measure $`𝑹_𝐜`$. This analysis uses the same tagging algorithm as the SLD $`𝑹_𝐛`$ analysis, but with the neural net tuned to tag charm. Although the charm tag has a purity of about 84%, most of the background is from b which can be measured with high precision from the b/c mixed tag rate.
* A measurement of $`𝑹_𝐜`$ using single leptons assuming $`\mathrm{𝐁𝐑}\mathbf{(}𝐜\mathbf{}\mathbf{}\mathbf{)}`$ from ALEPH .

To avoid effects from non linearities in the fit, for the inclusive/exclusive single/double tag and for the charm-counting analyses, the products $`𝐑_𝐜𝐏\mathbf{(}𝐜\mathbf{}𝐃^\mathbf{}\mathbf{+}\mathbf{)}\mathbf{\times }\mathrm{𝐁𝐑}\mathbf{(}𝐃^\mathbf{}\mathbf{+}\mathbf{}𝝅^\mathbf{+}𝐃^\mathrm{𝟎}\mathbf{)}`$, $`𝐑_𝐜𝐟_{𝐃^\mathrm{𝟎}}`$, $`𝐑_𝐜𝐟_{𝐃^\mathbf{+}}`$, $`𝐑_𝐜𝐟_{𝐃_𝐬}`$ and $`𝐑_𝐜𝐟_{𝚲_𝐜}`$that are actually measured in the analyses are directly used as inputs to the fit. The measurements of the production rates of weakly decaying charmed hadrons, especially $`𝐑_𝐜𝐟_{𝐃_𝐬}`$ and $`𝐑_𝐜𝐟_{𝚲_𝐜}`$ have a substantial error due to the branching ratio of the decay mode used. Since this error is a relative one there is a potential bias towards lower measurements. To avoid this bias, for the production rates of weakly decaying charmed hadrons the logarithm of the production rates instead of the rates themselves are input to the fit. For $`𝐑_𝐜𝐟_{𝐃^\mathrm{𝟎}}`$ and $`𝐑_𝐜𝐟_{𝐃^\mathbf{+}}`$ the difference between the results using the logarithm or the value itself is negligible. For $`𝐑_𝐜𝐟_{𝐃_𝐬}`$ and $`𝐑_𝐜𝐟_{𝚲_𝐜}`$ the difference in the $`𝑹_𝐜`$-result is about one tenth of a standard deviation.

#### 5.1.3 Asymmetry Measurements

All b and c asymmetries given by the experiments are corrected to full acceptance.

The QCD corrections to the forward-backward asymmetries depend strongly on the experimental analyses. For this reason the numbers given by the collaborations are also corrected for QCD effects. A detailed description of the procedure can be found in  with updates reported in

For the 12- and 14-parameter fits described above, the LEP peak and off-peak asymmetries are corrected to $`\sqrt{𝒔}\mathbf{=}\mathbf{91.26}`$ GeV using the predicted dependence from ZFITTER. The slope of the asymmetry around $`𝒎_𝐙`$ depends only on the axial coupling and the charge of the initial and final state fermions and is thus independent of the value of the asymmetry itself.

After calculating the overall averages, the quark pole asymmetries, $`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}^{\mathrm{𝟎}\mathbf{,}𝐪}`$, are derived by applying the corrections described below. To relate the pole asymmetries to the measured ones a few corrections that are summarised in Table 8 have to be applied. These corrections are due to the energy shift from 91.26 GeV to $`𝒎_𝐙`$, initial state radiation, $`𝜸`$ exchange and $`𝜸`$-$`𝐙`$ interference. A very small correction due to the nonzero value of the b quark mass is included in the correction called $`𝜸`$-$`𝐙`$ interference. All corrections are calculated using ZFITTER.

The SLD left-right-forward-backward asymmetries are also corrected for all radiative effects and are directly presented in terms of $`𝓐_𝐛`$ and $`𝓐_𝐜`$.

The measurements used are:

* Measurements of $`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}^{𝐛\overline{𝐛}}`$ and $`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}^{𝐜\overline{𝐜}}`$ using leptons from ALEPH, DELPHI, L3 and OPAL. These analyses measure either $`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}^{𝐛\overline{𝐛}}`$ only from a high $`𝒑_𝒕`$ lepton sample or they obtain $`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}^{𝐛\overline{𝐛}}`$ and $`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}^{𝐜\overline{𝐜}}`$ from a fit to the lepton spectra. In the case of OPAL the lepton information is combined with hadronic variables in a neural net. DELPHI uses in addition lifetime information and jet-charge in the hemisphere opposite to the lepton to separate the different lepton sources. Some asymmetry analyses also measure $`\overline{𝝌}`$.
* Measurements of $`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}^{𝐛\overline{𝐛}}`$ based on lifetime tagged events with a hemisphere charge measurement from ALEPH, DELPHI, L3 and OPAL. These measurements contribute roughly the same weight to the combined result as the lepton fits.
* Analyses with D mesons to measure $`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}^{𝐜\overline{𝐜}}`$ from ALEPH or $`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}^{𝐜\overline{𝐜}}`$ and $`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}^{𝐛\overline{𝐛}}`$ from DELPHI and OPAL.
* Measurements of $`𝓐_𝐛`$ and $`𝓐_𝐜`$ from SLD. These results include measurements using lepton , D meson  and vertex mass plus hemisphere charge  tags, which have similar sources of systematic errors as the LEP asymmetry measurements. SLD also uses vertex mass for bottom or charm tag in conjunction with a kaon tag or a vertex charge tag for both $`𝓐_𝐛`$ and $`𝓐_𝐜`$ measurements .

#### 5.1.4 Other Measurements

The measurements of the charmed hadron fractions $`𝐏\mathbf{(}𝐜\mathbf{}𝐃^\mathbf{}\mathbf{+}\mathbf{)}\mathbf{\times }\mathrm{𝐁𝐑}\mathbf{(}𝐃^\mathbf{}\mathbf{+}\mathbf{}𝝅^\mathbf{+}𝐃^\mathrm{𝟎}\mathbf{)}`$, $`𝒇\mathbf{(}𝐃^\mathbf{+}\mathbf{)}`$, $`𝒇\mathbf{(}𝐃_𝐬\mathbf{)}`$ and $`𝒇\mathbf{(}𝐜_{\mathrm{𝐛𝐚𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧}}\mathbf{)}`$ are included in the $`𝑹_𝐜`$ measurements and are described there.

ALEPH, DELPHI, L3 and OPAL measure $`\mathrm{𝐁𝐑}\mathbf{(}𝐛\mathbf{}\mathbf{}\mathbf{)}`$, $`\mathrm{𝐁𝐑}\mathbf{(}𝐛\mathbf{}𝐜\mathbf{}\overline{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{)}`$ and $`\overline{𝝌}`$ or a subset of them from a sample of leptons opposite to a b-tagged hemisphere and from a double lepton sample. DELPHI and OPAL measure $`\mathrm{𝐁𝐑}\mathbf{(}𝐜\mathbf{}\mathbf{}\mathbf{)}`$ from a sample opposite to a high energy $`𝐃^\mathbf{}\mathbf{\pm }`$.

### 5.2 Results

#### 5.2.1 Results of the 12-Parameter Fit to the LEP Data

Using the full averaging procedure gives the following combined results for the electroweak parameters:

$`𝑹_𝐛^\mathrm{𝟎}`$ $`\mathbf{=}`$ $`\mathbf{0.21648}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.00075}`$ (17)
$`𝑹_𝐜^\mathrm{𝟎}`$ $`\mathbf{=}`$ $`\mathbf{0.1674}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.0047}`$
$`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}^{\mathrm{𝟎}\mathbf{,}𝐛}`$ $`\mathbf{=}`$ $`\mathbf{0.0989}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.0020}`$
$`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}^{\mathrm{𝟎}\mathbf{,}𝐜}`$ $`\mathbf{=}`$ $`\mathbf{0.0688}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.0035}\mathbf{,}`$
where all corrections to the asymmetries and partial widths are applied. The $`𝝌^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{/}`$d.o.f. is $`\mathrm{𝟒𝟗}\mathbf{/}\mathbf{(}\mathrm{𝟖𝟗}\mathbf{}\mathrm{𝟏𝟐}\mathbf{)}`$. The corresponding correlation matrix is given in Table 9.

#### 5.2.2 Results of the 14-Parameter Fit to LEP and SLD Data

Including the SLD results for $`𝑹_𝐛`$, $`𝑹_𝐜`$, $`𝓐_𝐛`$ and $`𝓐_𝐜`$ into the fit the following results are obtained:

$`𝑹_𝐛^\mathrm{𝟎}`$ $`\mathbf{=}`$ $`\mathbf{0.21653}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.00069}`$ (18)
$`𝑹_𝐜^\mathrm{𝟎}`$ $`\mathbf{=}`$ $`\mathbf{0.1709}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.0034}`$
$`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}^{\mathrm{𝟎}\mathbf{,}𝐛}`$ $`\mathbf{=}`$ $`\mathbf{0.0990}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.0020}`$
$`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}^{\mathrm{𝟎}\mathbf{,}𝐜}`$ $`\mathbf{=}`$ $`\mathbf{0.0689}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.0035}`$
$`𝓐_𝐛`$ $`\mathbf{=}`$ $`\mathbf{0.922}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.023}`$
$`𝓐_𝐜`$ $`\mathbf{=}`$ $`\mathbf{0.631}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.026}\mathbf{,}`$
with a $`𝝌^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{/}`$d.o.f. of $`\mathrm{𝟓𝟒}\mathbf{/}\mathbf{(}\mathrm{𝟗𝟖}\mathbf{}\mathrm{𝟏𝟒}\mathbf{)}`$. The corresponding correlation matrix is given in Table 10 and the largest errors for the electroweak parameters are listed in Table 11.

In deriving these results the parameters $`𝓐_𝐛`$ and $`𝓐_𝐜`$ are treated as independent of the forward-backward asymmetries $`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}^{\mathrm{𝟎}\mathbf{,}𝐛}`$ and $`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}^{\mathrm{𝟎}\mathbf{,}𝐜}`$. In Figure 2 the results for $`𝑹_𝐛^\mathrm{𝟎}`$ and $`𝑹_𝐜^\mathrm{𝟎}`$ are shown compared with the Standard Model expectation.

The 14 parameter fit yields the $`𝐛\mathbf{}\mathbf{}`$ branching ratio:

$$\mathrm{𝐁𝐑}\mathbf{(}𝐛\mathbf{}\mathbf{}\mathbf{)}\mathbf{=}\mathbf{\hspace{0.17em}0.1057}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.0019}\mathbf{.}$$
(19)
The largest error sources on this quantity are the dependences on the semileptonic decay models $`𝐛\mathbf{}\mathbf{}`$, $`𝐜\mathbf{}\mathbf{}`$ with

$`𝚫\mathrm{𝐁𝐑}\mathbf{(}𝐛\mathbf{}\mathbf{}\mathbf{)}\mathbf{|}_{\mathbf{(}𝐛\mathbf{}\mathbf{}\mathbf{)}\mathrm{𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥}}`$ $`\mathbf{=}`$ $`\mathbf{0.0008}\mathbf{,}`$
$`𝚫\mathrm{𝐁𝐑}\mathbf{(}𝐛\mathbf{}\mathbf{}\mathbf{)}\mathbf{|}_{\mathbf{(}𝐜\mathbf{}\mathbf{}\mathbf{)}\mathrm{𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥}}`$ $`\mathbf{=}`$ $`\mathbf{0.0005}\mathbf{.}`$
Extensive studies are made to understand the size of these errors. If all the asymmetry measurements are excluded from the fit a consistent result is obtained with modelling errors of 0.0010 and 0.0006. The reduction of the modelling uncertainty is due to the inclusion of asymmetry measurements using different methods. Those using leptons depend on the semileptonic decay models while those using a lifetime tag and jet charge or D mesons do not. The mutual consistency of the asymmetry measurements effectively constrains the semileptonic decay models, and reduces the uncertainty in the semileptonic branching ratio.

The result of the full fit to the LEP+SLC results including the off-peak asymmetries and the non-electroweak parameters can be found in Appendix A. Results for the non-electroweak parameters are independent of the treatment of the off-peak asymmetries and the SLD data.

## 6 The Hadronic Charge Asymmetry $`\mathbf{}𝑸_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}\mathbf{}`$

Updates with respect to last summer:
L3 have published their result.

The LEP experiments ALEPH, DELPHI, L3 and OPAL have provided measurements of the hadronic charge asymmetry based on the mean difference in jet charges measured in the forward and backward event hemispheres, $`\mathbf{}𝑸_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}\mathbf{}`$. DELPHI have also provided a related measurement of the total charge asymmetry by making a charge assignment on an event-by-event basis and performing a likelihood fit. The experimental values quoted for the average forward-backward charge difference, $`\mathbf{}𝑸_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}\mathbf{}`$, cannot be directly compared as some of them include detector dependent effects such as acceptances and efficiencies. Therefore the effective electroweak mixing angle, $`\mathrm{𝐬𝐢𝐧}^\mathrm{𝟐}𝜽_{\mathrm{𝐞𝐟𝐟}}^{\mathrm{𝐥𝐞𝐩𝐭}}`$, as defined in Section 12.4, is used as a means of combining the experimental results summarised in Table 12.

The dominant source of systematic error arises from the modelling of the charge flow in the fragmentation process for each flavour. All experiments measure the required charge properties for $`𝐙\mathbf{}𝐛\overline{𝐛}`$ events from the data. ALEPH also determines the charm charge properties from the data. The fragmentation model implemented in the JETSET Monte Carlo program is used by all experiments as reference; the one of the HERWIG Monte Carlo program is used for comparison. The JETSET fragmentation parameters are varied to estimate the systematic errors. The central values chosen by the experiments for these parameters are, however, not the same. The smaller of the two fragmentation errors in any pair of results is treated as common to both. The present average of $`\mathrm{𝐬𝐢𝐧}^\mathrm{𝟐}𝜽_{\mathrm{𝐞𝐟𝐟}}^{\mathrm{𝐥𝐞𝐩𝐭}}`$ from $`\mathbf{}𝑸_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}\mathbf{}`$ and its associated error are not very sensitive to the treatment of common uncertainties. The ambiguities due to QCD corrections may cause changes in the derived value of $`\mathrm{𝐬𝐢𝐧}^\mathrm{𝟐}𝜽_{\mathrm{𝐞𝐟𝐟}}^{\mathrm{𝐥𝐞𝐩𝐭}}`$. These are, however, well below the fragmentation uncertainties and experimental errors. The effect of fully correlating the estimated systematic uncertainties from this source between the experiments has a negligible effect upon the average and its error.

There is also some correlation between these results and those for $`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}^{𝐛\overline{𝐛}}`$ using jet charges. The dominant source of correlation is again through uncertainties in the fragmentation and decay models used. The typical correlation between the derived values of $`\mathrm{𝐬𝐢𝐧}^\mathrm{𝟐}𝜽_{\mathrm{𝐞𝐟𝐟}}^{\mathrm{𝐥𝐞𝐩𝐭}}`$ from the $`\mathbf{}𝑸_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}\mathbf{}`$ and the $`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}^{𝐛\overline{𝐛}}`$ jet charge measurements is estimated to be about 20% to 25%. This leads to only a small change in the relative weights for the $`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}^{𝐛\overline{𝐛}}`$ and $`\mathbf{}𝑸_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}\mathbf{}`$ results when averaging their $`\mathrm{𝐬𝐢𝐧}^\mathrm{𝟐}𝜽_{\mathrm{𝐞𝐟𝐟}}^{\mathrm{𝐥𝐞𝐩𝐭}}`$ values (Section 12.4). Furthermore, the jet charge method contributes at most half of the weight of the $`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}^{𝐛\overline{𝐛}}`$ measurement. Thus, the correlation between $`\mathbf{}𝑸_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}\mathbf{}`$ and $`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}^{𝐛\overline{𝐛}}`$ from jet charge will have little impact on the overall Standard Model fit, and is neglected at present.

## 7 Averages for $`𝐟\overline{𝐟}`$ Production at LEP-II

Updates with respect to last summer:
Results are updated with data taken in 1999 and 2000.

Since the start of the LEP-II program LEP has delivered collisions at energies from $`\mathbf{}\mathrm{𝟏𝟑𝟎}`$ GeV to $`\mathbf{}\mathrm{𝟐𝟎𝟗}`$ GeV. The four LEP experiments have made measurements on the $`𝐞^\mathbf{+}𝐞^{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{}𝐟\overline{𝐟}`$ process over this range of energies, and preliminary combinations of these data are discussed in this note.

For the combination presented here, only data taken up to the end of June 2000 are considered. The nominal and actual centre-of-mass energies to which the LEP data are averaged for each year are given in Table 13.

A number of measurements on the process $`𝐞^\mathbf{+}𝐞^{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{}𝐟\overline{𝐟}`$ exist and are combined.

* preliminary averages of cross section and forward-backward asymmetry measurements
* a preliminary average of the differential cross section measurements, $`\frac{𝐝𝝈}{𝐝\mathrm{𝐜𝐨𝐬}𝜽}`$, for the channels $`𝐞^\mathbf{+}𝐞^{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{}𝝁^\mathbf{+}𝝁^{\mathbf{}}`$ and $`𝐞^\mathbf{+}𝐞^{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{}𝝉^\mathbf{+}𝝉^{\mathbf{}}`$
* heavy flavour results $`𝑹_𝐛`$, $`𝑹_𝐜`$, $`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}^{𝐛\overline{𝐛}}`$ and $`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}^{𝐜\overline{𝐜}}`$

Complete results of the combinations are available on the web page  and are discussed in .

The combined results are interpreted in terms of contact interactions, the exchange of $`𝐙^{\mathbf{}}`$ bosons, and contours of the S-Matrix parameters $`𝒋_{𝐛\mathbf{,}𝐜}^{\mathrm{𝐭𝐨𝐭}}`$ and $`𝒋_{𝐛\mathbf{,}𝐜}^{\mathrm{𝐟𝐛}}`$, that describe $`𝜸`$-$`𝐙`$ interference, are derived. The interpretations are discussed fully in .

### 7.1 Cross Sections and Asymmetry Measurements

Cross section results are combined for the $`𝐞^\mathbf{+}𝐞^{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{}𝐪\overline{𝐪}`$, $`𝐞^\mathbf{+}𝐞^{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{}𝝁^\mathbf{+}𝝁^{\mathbf{}}`$ and $`𝐞^\mathbf{+}𝐞^{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{}𝝉^\mathbf{+}𝝉^{\mathbf{}}`$ channels, forward-backward asymmetry measurements are combined for the $`𝝁^\mathbf{+}𝝁^{\mathbf{}}`$ and $`𝝉^\mathbf{+}𝝉^{\mathbf{}}`$ final states. The averages are made for the samples of events with high $`\sqrt{𝒔^{\mathbf{}}}`$.

As before , the averaged results are given for two signal definitions:

* Definition 1: $`\sqrt{𝒔^{\mathbf{}}}`$ is taken to be the mass of the $`𝒔`$-channel propagator, with the $`𝐟\overline{𝐟}`$ signal being defined by the cut $`\sqrt{𝒔^{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{/}𝒔}\mathbf{>}\mathbf{0.85}`$. ISR-FSR photon interference is subtracted to render the propagator mass unambiguous.
* Definition 2: For dilepton events, $`\sqrt{𝒔^{\mathbf{}}}`$ is taken to be the bare invariant mass of the outgoing difermion pair. For hadronic events, it is taken to be the mass of the $`𝒔`$-channel propagator. In both cases, ISR-FSR photon interference is included and the signal is defined by the cut $`\sqrt{𝒔^{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{/}𝒔}\mathbf{>}\mathbf{0.85}`$. When calculating the contribution to the hadronic cross section due to ISR-FSR interference, since the propagator mass is ill-defined, it is replaced by the bare $`𝐪\overline{𝐪}`$ mass.

Events containing additional fermion pairs from radiative processes are considered to be signal, providing that the primary pair passes the cut on $`\sqrt{𝒔^{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{/}𝒔}`$ and that the secondary pair has a mass below 70 GeV/c2.

The data are split into 3 sets: data taken at energies from 130–189 GeV, data taken during 1999, and data taken in 2000. Averages are performed separately for each of these data sets. Within each subset correlations between experiments and energies and channels are considered.

Tables 14 and 15 show the preliminary combined results for the 1995–1999 data corresponding to the signal definition 1 and the difference in the results if definition 2 is used. The results for the averages of the 130–189 GeV data are identical to those given in . Results for the more preliminary data taken during 2000 are not given in numerical form but are shown in Figure 3 which show the LEP averaged cross sections and asymmetries (based on definition 1), respectively, as a function of the centre-of-mass energy, together with the SM predictions.

The $`𝝌^\mathrm{𝟐}`$ per degree of freedom for the average of the 1999 data is 52.5/60. The correlations are rather small, with the largest components at any given pair of energies being between the hadronic cross sections.

There is good agreement between the SM expectations and the measurements of the individual experiments and the combined averages. The cross sections for hadronic final states at most of the energy points are somewhat above the SM expectations. Taking into account the correlations between the data points and also assigning a theory error of $`\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.2}\mathbf{\%}`$  to the SM predictions, the difference of the cross section from the SM expectations averaged over all energies is approximately a 2.5 standard deviation excess. It is concluded that there is no significant evidence in the results of the combinations for physics beyond the SM in the process $`𝐞^\mathbf{+}𝐞^{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{}𝐟\overline{𝐟}`$.

### 7.2 Differential cross sections

The LEP experiments have measured the differential cross section, $`\frac{𝐝𝝈}{𝐝\mathrm{𝐜𝐨𝐬}𝜽}`$, for the $`𝐞^\mathbf{+}𝐞^{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{}𝝁^\mathbf{+}𝝁^{\mathbf{}}`$ and $`𝐞^\mathbf{+}𝐞^{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{}𝝉^\mathbf{+}𝝉^{\mathbf{}}`$ channels. This section discusses a procedure to combine these measurements and presents preliminary results.

Using a Monte Carlo simulation it is found that a $`𝝌^\mathrm{𝟐}`$ fit to the measured differential cross sections, using the expected error on the differential cross sections, computed from the expected cross sections and the expected numbers of events in each experiment, provided a very good approximation to the exact likelihood method based on Poisson statistics. Further details are given in .

Data are binned in 10 bins of $`\mathrm{𝐜𝐨𝐬}𝜽`$. The scattering angle, $`𝜽`$, is the angle of the negative lepton with respect to the incoming electron direction in the lab coordinate system. The outer acceptances of the most forward and most backward bins for which the four experiments have presented their data are different. This is accounted for as a correction to a common signal definition. The signal definition used corresponds to definition 1 of Section 7.1.

Correlated small systematic errors between different experiments, channels and energies, arising from uncertainties on the overall normalisation are considered.

The data are subdivided into two energy ranges, 183 and 189 GeV and 192–202 GeV, and averages are made for each energy point within each of these subsets. The results of the averages are shown in Figures 4 and 5.

The correlations between bins in the average are less that $`\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{\%}`$ of the total error on the averages in each bin. The overall agreement between the averaged data and the predictions is good, with a $`𝝌^\mathrm{𝟐}`$ of 114 for 120 degrees of freedom. At 202 GeV the cross section in the most backward bin, $`\mathbf{}\mathbf{1.00}\mathbf{<}\mathrm{𝐜𝐨𝐬}𝜽\mathbf{<}\mathbf{}\mathbf{0.8}`$, for both muon and tau final states is above the predictions. For the muons the excess in data corresponds to 3.3 standard deviations. For the taus the excess is 2.3 standard deviations, however, for this measurement the individual experiments are somewhat inconsistent, having a chi-squared with respect to the average of 10.5 for 2 degrees of freedom.

### 7.3 Heavy Flavour Measurements

A combination of measurements of the ratios333Unlike at LEP-I, $`\mathrm{R}_\mathrm{q}`$ is defined as $`\frac{\sigma _{\mathrm{q}\overline{\mathrm{q}}}}{\sigma _{\mathrm{had}}}`$., $`𝑹_𝐛`$ and $`𝑹_𝐜`$ and the forward-backward asymmetries, $`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}^{𝐛\overline{𝐛}}`$ and $`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}^{𝐜\overline{𝐜}}`$, from the LEP collaborations at centre-of-mass energies in the range of 130 to 209 GeV is performed.

A common signal definition is defined for all the measurements, requiring:

* an effective centre-of-mass energy $`\sqrt{𝒔^{\mathbf{}}}\mathbf{>}\mathbf{0.85}\sqrt{𝒔}`$
* the inclusion of ISR and FSR photon interference contribution and
* extrapolation to full angular acceptance.

Systematic errors are divided into three categories: uncorrelated errors, errors correlated between the measurements of each experiment, and errors common to all experiments.

The results of the combination are presented in Table 16 and Figure 6. Because of the large correlation (-0.36) with $`𝑹_𝐜`$ at 183 GeV and 189 GeV, the errors on the corresponding measurements of $`𝑹_𝐛`$ receive an additional contribution which is absent at the other energy points. For other energies where there is no measurement of $`𝑹_𝐜`$, the Standard Model value of $`𝑹_𝐜`$ is used in extracting $`𝑹_𝐛`$. The error that this introduces on $`𝑹_𝐛`$ is assumed to be negligible. The results are consistent with the Standard Model predictions of ZFITTER.

### 7.4 Interpretation

The combined cross sections, asymmetries and results on heavy flavour production are interpreted in a variety of models. The cross section and asymmetry results are used to place limits on the mass of a possible additional heavy neutral boson, $`𝐙^{\mathbf{}}`$. Limits on contact interactions between leptons and on contact interaction between electrons and $`𝒃`$ and $`𝒄`$ quarks are obtained. Heavy flavour results are also used within the S-Matrix formalism to give information on the $`𝜸`$-$`𝐙`$ interference for heavy quarks.

### 7.5 Models with $`𝐙^{\mathbf{}}`$ Bosons

The combined hadronic and leptonic cross sections and the leptonic forward-backward asymmetries are used to fit the data to models including an additional heavy neutral boson, $`𝐙^{\mathbf{}}`$ within a variety of models .

Fits are made to the mass of a $`𝐙^{\mathbf{}}`$, $`𝐌_𝐙^{^{\mathbf{}}}`$, for 4 different models referred to as $`𝝌`$, $`𝝍`$, $`𝜼`$ and L-R and for the Sequential Standard Model , which proposes the existence of a $`𝐙^{\mathbf{}}`$ with exactly the same coupling to fermions as the standard Z. LEP-II data alone does not significantly constrain the mixing angle between the Z and $`𝐙^{\mathbf{}}`$ fields, $`𝚯_{\mathrm{𝐙𝐙}^{^{\mathbf{}}}}`$. However results from a single experiment where LEP-I data is used in the fit show that the mixing is consistent with zero (see for example ). So for these fits $`𝚯_{\mathrm{𝐙𝐙}^{^{\mathbf{}}}}`$ is fixed to zero.

No evidence is found for the existence of a $`𝐙^{\mathbf{}}`$ boson in any of the models. $`\mathrm{𝟗𝟓}\mathbf{\%}`$ confidence level lower limits on $`𝐌_𝐙^{^{\mathbf{}}}`$ are obtained, by integrating the likelihood function444To be able to obtain confidence limits from the likelihood function it is necessary to convert the likelihood to a probability density function; this is done in a Bayesian approach by multiplying by a prior probability function. Simply integrating the likelihood is equivalent to multiplying by a uniform prior probability function.. The lower limits on the $`𝐙^{\mathbf{}}`$ mass are shown in Table 17.

### 7.6 Contact Interactions between Leptons

Following reference , contact interactions are parameterised by an effective Lagrangian, $`𝓛_{\mathrm{𝐞𝐟𝐟}}`$, which is added to the Standard Model Lagrangian and has the form:

$$𝓛_{\mathrm{𝐞𝐟𝐟}}\mathbf{=}\frac{𝒈^\mathrm{𝟐}}{\mathbf{(}\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{+}𝜹\mathbf{)}𝚲^\mathrm{𝟐}}\underset{𝒊\mathbf{,}𝒋\mathbf{=}𝑳\mathbf{,}𝑹}{\mathbf{}}𝜼_{𝒊𝒋}\overline{𝒆}_𝒊𝜸_𝝁𝒆_𝒊\overline{𝒇}_𝒋𝜸^𝝁𝒇_𝒋\mathbf{,}$$

where $`𝒈^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{/}\mathrm{𝟒}𝝅`$ is taken to be 1 by convention, $`𝜹\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{(}\mathrm{𝟎}\mathbf{)}`$ for $`𝒇\mathbf{=}𝒆\mathbf{(}𝒇\mathbf{}𝒆\mathbf{)}`$, $`𝜼_{𝒊𝒋}\mathbf{=}\mathbf{\pm }\mathrm{𝟏}`$ or $`\mathrm{𝟎}`$, $`𝚲`$ is the scale of the contact interactions, $`𝒆_𝒊`$ and $`𝒇_𝒋`$ are left or right-handed spinors. By assuming different helicity coupling between the initial state and final state currents, a set of different models can be defined from this Lagrangian , with either constructive ($`\mathbf{+}`$) or destructive ($`\mathbf{}`$) interference between the Standard Model process and the contact interactions. The models and corresponding choices of $`𝜼_{𝒊𝒋}`$ are given in Table 18. The models LL, RR, VV, AA, LR, RL, V0, A0 are considered here since these models lead to large deviations in the $`𝐞^\mathbf{+}𝐞^{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{}𝝁^\mathbf{+}𝝁^{\mathbf{}}`$ and $`𝐞^\mathbf{+}𝐞^{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{}𝝉^\mathbf{+}𝝉^{\mathbf{}}`$ channels. The total hadronic cross section on its own is not particularly sensitive to contact interactions involving quarks. For the purpose of fitting contact interaction models to the data, a new parameter $`\mathit{ϵ}\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{/}𝚲^\mathrm{𝟐}`$ is defined; $`\mathit{ϵ}\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}`$ in the limit that there are no contact interactions. This parameter is allowed to take both positive and negative values in the fits.

The averaged measurements of the cross sections and forward-backward asymmetries for $`𝐞^\mathbf{+}𝐞^{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{}𝝁^\mathbf{+}𝝁^{\mathbf{}}`$ and $`𝐞^\mathbf{+}𝐞^{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{}𝝉^\mathbf{+}𝝉^{\mathbf{}}`$ from all energies from 130 to 207 GeV are used. Theoretical uncertainties on the SM predictions of $`\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.5}\mathbf{\%}`$  on the cross sections and $`\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.005}`$ on the forward-backward asymmetries, fully correlated between all energies, are assumed.

The values of $`\mathit{ϵ}`$ extracted for each model are all compatible with the Standard Model expectation $`\mathit{ϵ}\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}`$, at the two standard deviation level. These errors on $`\mathit{ϵ}`$ are typically a factor of two smaller than those obtained from a single LEP experiment with the same data set. The fitted values of $`\mathit{ϵ}`$ are converted into $`\mathrm{𝟗𝟓}\mathbf{\%}`$ confidence level lower limits on $`𝚲`$. The limits are obtained by integrating the likelihood function over the physically allowed values, $`\mathit{ϵ}\mathbf{}\mathrm{𝟎}`$ for each $`𝚲^\mathbf{+}`$ limit and $`\mathit{ϵ}\mathbf{}\mathrm{𝟎}`$ for $`𝚲^{\mathbf{}}`$ limits. The fitted values of $`\mathit{ϵ}`$ and the extracted limits are shown in Table 19. Figure 7 shows the limits obtained on the scale $`𝚲`$ for the different models assuming universality between contact interactions for $`𝐞^\mathbf{+}𝐞^{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{}𝝁^\mathbf{+}𝝁^{\mathbf{}}`$ and $`𝐞^\mathbf{+}𝐞^{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{}𝝉^\mathbf{+}𝝉^{\mathbf{}}`$.

### 7.7 Contact Interactions from Heavy Flavour Averages

Limits on contact interactions between electrons and b and c quarks are obtained. These results are of particular interest since they are inaccessible to $`𝐩\overline{𝐩}`$ or ep colliders. The formalism for describing contact interactions including heavy flavours is identical to that described above for leptons.

All heavy flavour LEP-II combined results from 133 to 205 GeV listed in Table 16 are used as inputs. For the purpose of fitting contact interaction models to the data, $`𝑹_𝐛`$ and $`𝑹_𝐜`$ are converted to cross sections $`𝝈_{𝐛\overline{𝐛}}`$ and $`𝝈_{𝐜\overline{𝐜}}`$ using the averaged $`𝐪\overline{𝐪}`$ cross section of section 7.1 corresponding to signal definition 2. In the calculation of errors, the correlations between $`𝑹_𝐛`$, $`𝑹_𝐜`$ and $`𝝈_{𝐪\overline{𝐪}}`$ are assumed to be negligible.

The fitted values of $`\mathit{ϵ}\mathbf{=}\frac{\mathrm{𝟏}}{𝚲^\mathrm{𝟐}}`$ and their 68$`\mathbf{\%}`$ confidence level uncertainties together with the 95$`\mathbf{\%}`$ confidence level lower limits on $`𝚲`$ are shown in Table 20. Figure 8 shows the limits obtained on the scale, $`𝚲`$, of models with different helicity combinations involved in the interactions.

### 7.8 S-Matrix Parameters for Heavy Flavour Production

The S-Matrix formalism  parameterises the cross sections and forward-backward asymmetries for two-fermion production in terms of the exchange of a massless ($`𝜸`$) and a massive vector boson (Z):

$$𝝈_{\mathrm{𝐭𝐨𝐭}}^{\mathrm{𝟎}\mathbf{,}𝒇}\mathbf{(}𝒔\mathbf{)}\mathbf{=}\frac{\mathrm{𝟒}}{\mathrm{𝟑}}𝝅𝜶^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{+}\mathbf{\left[}\frac{𝒈_𝒇^{\mathrm{𝐭𝐨𝐭}}}{𝒔}\mathbf{+}\frac{𝒋_𝒇^{\mathrm{𝐭𝐨𝐭}}\mathbf{(}𝒔\mathbf{}\overline{𝒎}_𝐙^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{)}\mathbf{+}𝒓_𝒇^{\mathrm{𝐭𝐨𝐭}}𝒔}{\mathbf{(}𝒔\mathbf{}\overline{𝒎}_𝐙^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{)}^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{+}\overline{𝒎}_𝐙^\mathrm{𝟐}\overline{𝚪}_𝐙^\mathrm{𝟐}}\mathbf{\right]}$$

$$𝝈_{\mathrm{𝐟𝐛}}^{\mathrm{𝟎}\mathbf{,}𝒇}\mathbf{(}𝒔\mathbf{)}\mathbf{=}\frac{\mathrm{𝟒}}{\mathrm{𝟑}}𝝅𝜶^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{+}\mathbf{\left[}\frac{𝒈_𝒇^{\mathrm{𝐟𝐛}}}{𝒔}\mathbf{+}\frac{𝒋_𝒇^{\mathrm{𝐟𝐛}}\mathbf{(}𝒔\mathbf{}\overline{𝒎}_𝐙^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{)}\mathbf{+}𝒓_𝒇^{\mathrm{𝐟𝐛}}𝒔}{\mathbf{(}𝒔\mathbf{}\overline{𝒎}_𝐙^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{)}^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{+}\overline{𝒎}_𝐙^\mathrm{𝟐}\overline{𝚪}_𝐙^\mathrm{𝟐}}\mathbf{\right]}$$

$$𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐟𝐛}}^{\mathrm{𝟎}\mathbf{,}𝒇}\mathbf{(}𝒔\mathbf{)}\mathbf{=}\frac{\mathrm{𝟑}}{\mathrm{𝟒}}\frac{𝝈_{\mathrm{𝐟𝐛}}^{\mathrm{𝟎}\mathbf{,}𝒇}\mathbf{(}𝒔\mathbf{)}}{𝝈_{\mathrm{𝐭𝐨𝐭}}^{\mathrm{𝟎}\mathbf{,}𝒇}\mathbf{(}𝒔\mathbf{)}}$$

The mass, $`\overline{𝒎}_𝐙`$, and width, $`\overline{𝚪}_𝐙`$, used in the S-Matrix fits are slightly different from the usual mass $`𝒎_𝐙`$, and width $`𝚪_𝐙`$ which are defined using an $`𝒔`$-dependent width term in the Breit-Wigner resonance of the Z:

$`\overline{𝒎}_𝐙`$ $`\mathbf{}`$ $`𝒎_𝐙\mathbf{}\mathbf{34.1}\mathrm{𝐌𝐞𝐯}`$
$`\overline{𝚪}_𝐙`$ $`\mathbf{}`$ $`𝚪_𝐙\mathbf{}\mathbf{0.9}\mathrm{𝐌𝐞𝐯}`$
The parameters $`𝒈`$, $`𝒓`$ and $`𝒋`$ parameterise the cross sections and forward-backward asymmetries arising from the exchange of the $`𝜸`$ ($`𝒈`$) and the Z ($`𝒓`$) and the interference of the two ($`𝒋`$). Values for these parameters can be obtained for each fermion species and also for a combination of all $`𝐪\overline{𝐪}`$ final states, $`𝒇\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝐡𝐚𝐝}`$. Values of the $`𝒈`$, $`𝒓`$ and $`𝒋`$ parameters and $`\overline{𝚪}_𝐙`$ are computed in the Standard Model for comparison with the results of the fits.

S-Matrix fits have already been performed using the hadronic and leptonic cross section and leptonic forward-backward asymmetry data from LEP-I and LEP-II for energies up to 172 GeV , providing constraints on $`𝒓_{\mathrm{𝐡𝐚𝐝}}^{\mathrm{𝐭𝐨𝐭}}`$ and $`𝒋_{\mathrm{𝐡𝐚𝐝}}^{\mathrm{𝐭𝐨𝐭}}`$, the parameters describing charged lepton production and $`\overline{𝒎}_𝐙`$ and $`\overline{𝚪}_𝐙`$. The results of these existing fits and the full error matrix are used to constrain these parameters in the fit performed here.

LEP-I and SLD heavy flavour averages , $`𝑹_𝐛`$, $`𝑹_𝐜`$, $`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}^{𝐛\overline{𝐛}}`$ and $`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}^{𝐜\overline{𝐜}}`$ are used to constrain the S-Matrix parameters $`𝒓_{𝐛\mathbf{,}𝐜}^{\mathrm{𝐭𝐨𝐭}}`$ and $`𝒓_{𝐛\mathbf{,}𝐜}^{\mathrm{𝐟𝐛}}`$ that describe the heavy quark couplings to the Z. By including the combined LEP-II heavy flavour measurements from 133 to 205 GeV listed in Table 16 values of the parameters $`𝒋_{𝐛\mathbf{,}𝐜}^{\mathrm{𝐭𝐨𝐭}}`$ and $`𝒋_{𝐛\mathbf{,}𝐜}^{\mathrm{𝐟𝐛}}`$ that describe $`𝜸`$-$`𝐙`$ interference in heavy quark production are obtained. Contours for these parameters are given at the end of this section.

The LEP-II average values of $`𝑹_𝐛`$ and $`𝑹_𝐜`$ from Section 7.3 for centre-of-mass energies from 130 up to 166 GeV are used directly in the fit. These are largely uncorrelated with the measured total cross sections, therefore, the correlations between the existing S-Matrix fits parameters and these measurements are neglected. The measurements are fitted using the ratio of the predicted b and c cross sections and the total hadronic cross section.

For energies of 183 GeV and above, the flavour tagged measurements are more precise than those from 133–166 GeV. The uncertainties on $`𝒋_{\mathrm{𝐡𝐚𝐝}}^{\mathrm{𝐭𝐨𝐭}}`$ from the existing fits introduces a sizeable uncertainty on the prediction of $`𝑹_𝐛`$ and $`𝑹_𝐜`$. For these energies the measurements of $`𝑹_𝐛`$ and $`𝑹_𝐜`$ are first converted into cross sections for $`𝐛\overline{𝐛}`$ and $`𝐜\overline{𝐜}`$ production by multiplying by the the total hadronic cross sections from section 7.1. The full error matrix of the quantities and the correlations with the lower energy $`𝑹_𝐛`$ and $`𝑹_𝐜`$ values are computed. Correlations between the existing S-Matrix fit results and the total hadronic cross sections from 183 GeV and above are neglected. For this reason the highest energy hadronic cross sections are not used to improve the fits to the inclusive hadronic S-Matrix parameters.

The forward-backward asymmetries for $`𝒃`$ and $`𝒄`$ quark production are fitted directly to predictions of the asymmetries at all energies.

Predictions of the S-Matrix formalism are made using the SMATASY  program. The couplings to the photon are fixed to the expectation from the Standard Model.

In summary, the following parameters are obtained from the fit:

* The mass and total width of the $`𝐙`$ boson, the S-Matrix parameters $`𝒓_{\mathrm{𝐡𝐚𝐝}}^{\mathrm{𝐭𝐨𝐭}}`$ and $`𝒋_{\mathrm{𝐡𝐚𝐝}}^{\mathrm{𝐭𝐨𝐭}}`$ for the total hadronic cross section, and the parameters $`𝒓_𝐥^{\mathrm{𝐭𝐨𝐭}}`$, $`𝒋_𝐥^{\mathrm{𝐭𝐨𝐭}}`$, $`𝒓_𝐥^{\mathrm{𝐟𝐛}}`$, and $`𝒋_𝐥^{\mathrm{𝐟𝐛}}`$ for leptons555Lepton universality is assumed..
* The S-Matrix parameters $`𝒓_{𝐛\mathbf{,}𝐜}^{\mathrm{𝐭𝐨𝐭}}`$ and $`𝒓_{𝐛\mathbf{,}𝐜}^{\mathrm{𝐟𝐛}}`$ that describe the total $`𝐛\overline{𝐛}`$ and $`𝐜\overline{𝐜}`$ cross sections and asymmetries due to Z boson exchange.
* The four parameters $`𝒋_{𝐛\mathbf{,}𝐜}^{\mathrm{𝐭𝐨𝐭}}`$ and $`𝒋_{𝐛\mathbf{,}𝐜}^{\mathrm{𝐟𝐛}}`$ that describe the the effect of $`𝜸`$-$`𝐙`$ interference on the energy dependence of the bottom and charm cross sections and asymmetries.

The following data are used:

* The results of the existing S-Matrix fits , derived from LEP-I data and including total hadronic cross sections up to 172 GeV.
* LEP-I and SLD heavy flavour averages .
* LEP-II heavy flavour averages $`𝑹_𝐛`$ and $`𝑹_𝐜`$ for energies up to and including 172 GeV from Table 16.
* Values of the flavour tagged b and c cross sections $`𝝈_𝒃`$ and $`𝝈_𝒄`$ derived from measurements of $`𝑹_𝐛`$ and $`𝑹_𝐜`$ and the total hadronic cross section for energies of 183 GeV and above, from section 7.1 and Table 16.
* LEP-II heavy flavour averages $`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}^{𝐛\overline{𝐛}}`$ and $`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}^{𝐜\overline{𝐜}}`$ for all LEP-II energies from Table 16.

The results for the S-Matrix parameters $`𝒋_{𝐛\mathbf{,}𝐜}^{\mathrm{𝐭𝐨𝐭}}`$ and $`𝒋_{𝐛\mathbf{,}𝐜}^{\mathrm{𝐟𝐛}}`$ are shown in Figure 9 for both bottom and charm quark production. Good agreement is observed with the Standard Model prediction  for $`𝜸`$-$`𝐙`$ interference in heavy quark production.

## 8 Measurement of W Boson Properties at LEP-II

Updates with respect to last summer:
There are new results on the WW cross section and on the W mass. The W decay branching ratios are updated.

In the year 2000 LEP ran at centre-of-mass energies larger than 200 GeV, with a maximum of 209 GeV (see Table 13). The collected data are divided in two ranges of $`\sqrt{𝒔}`$, below and above 205.5 GeV. The two data sets have mean centre-of-mass energies of 204.9 and 206.7 GeV and the respective integrated luminosities used for the analyses considered in this note are 60 and 30 $`\mathrm{𝐩𝐛}^\mathbf{}\mathrm{𝟏}`$. The same centre-of-mass energy binning is also applied for the measurement of the Z–pair cross section. All data recorded from 1996 to 1999 over a range of centre-of-mass energies, $`\sqrt{𝒔}\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟏𝟔𝟏}\mathbf{}\mathrm{𝟐𝟎𝟐}`$ GeV are used to extract the W boson mass and width.

### 8.1 W–pair Production Cross Section

All experiments have published final results on the W–pair (CC03) production cross section for centre-of-mass energies up to 189 GeV 666In the combination the preliminary results of the L3 collaboration  are still used, as the final results only became available shortly before the ICHEP conference.. ALEPH , DELPHI  and L3  preliminary results at $`\sqrt{𝒔}\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟏𝟗𝟐}`$–202 GeV are unchanged with respect to combination of results prepared for the year 2000 winter conferences. OPAL has updated its preliminary results at $`\sqrt{𝒔}\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟐𝟎𝟎}`$ and 202 GeV  to include the full luminosity collected in 1999, whereas the results at $`\sqrt{𝒔}\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟏𝟗𝟐}`$ and 196 GeV  are unchanged since the winter conferences. All experiments have contributed preliminary results  based on the analysis of year 2000 data.

Results from different experiments are combined using the method described in  and taking into account, when relevant, the correlations between the systematic uncertainties, which arise mainly from the use of the same Monte Carlo programs to predict background cross sections and to simulate the hadronisation processes.

The results from each experiments for the W–pair production cross section, assuming Standard Model values for the W decay branching ratios, are shown in Table 21, together with the LEP combination. In the averaging procedure the QCD component of the systematic errors 777The QCD component of the systematic error, includes for example uncertainties on the 4–jet rate, on the fragmentation modelling and estimates of possible effects of colour reconnection and Bose-Einstein correlations. from each individual measurement is taken to be fully correlated between experiments. This common error ranges between 0.07 and 0.10 pb. These results supersede the ones presented in  for $`\sqrt{𝒔}\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟏𝟖𝟗}`$, 200 and 202 GeV.

Figure 10 shows the total W–pair cross section measured as a function of the LEP centre-of-mass energy. The experimental points are compared with new calculations (RacoonWW  and YFSWW3 ) based on the double pole approximation (DPA)  for $`𝒎_𝐖\mathbf{=}\mathbf{80.35}`$ GeV. These two codes have been extensively compared and agree at a level better than 0.2% at the LEP-II energies. The theoretical uncertainty of the DPA decreases from 0.7% at 170 GeV to a level of 0.4% at centre-of-mass energies larger than 200 GeV888The theoretical uncertainty $`\mathrm{\Delta }\sigma /\sigma `$ on the W–pair production cross section calculated in the DPA can be parametrised as $`\mathrm{\Delta }\sigma /\sigma =0.40.072t_1t_2`$, where $`t_1=(2002m_\mathrm{W})/(\sqrt{s}2m_\mathrm{W})`$ and $`t_2=(1(\frac{2m_\mathrm{W}}{200})^2)/(1(\frac{2m_\mathrm{W}}{\sqrt{s}})^2)`$.. This theoretical uncertainty is represented by the grey band in Figure 10. An error of 50 MeV on the W mass translates into a 0.1% error on the cross section predictions at 200 GeV. The DPA is only valid away from the production threshold, therefore below 170 GeV the experimental results are compared with the Gentle  prediction, which is adjusted to reproduce the DPA results at higher energies. All results, up to the highest centre-of-mass energies, are in agreement with the theoretical predictions.

### 8.2 W Decay Branching Fractions

From the cross sections for the individual W decay channels measured by the four experiments at all energies larger than 161 GeV, the W decay branching ratios ($`𝓑\mathbf{(}𝐖\mathbf{}\text{f}\overline{\text{f}}^{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{)}`$) are determined, with and without the assumption of lepton universality. ALEPH  and OPAL  have updated their results to include the data collected in the year 2000 at centre-of-mass energies up to 208 GeV, whereas DELPHI  and L3  have not updated their preliminary results prepared for the year 2000 winter conferences. The results from the single experiments are given in Table 22 together with the result of the LEP combination. Correlated errors between the different channels of individual experiments are taken into account in the averaging procedure, together with the QCD component of the systematic error which is assumed to be fully correlated among experiments.

The results of the fit which does not make use of the lepton universality assumption show a negative correlation of 21.0% (18.7%) between the $`𝐖\mathbf{}𝝉\overline{𝝂}_𝝉`$ and $`𝐖\mathbf{}𝐞\overline{𝝂}_𝐞`$ ($`𝐖\mathbf{}𝝁\overline{𝝂}_𝝁`$) branching ratios, while between the electron and muon decay channels there is a positive correlation of 4.4%. These branching ratios are all consistent within the errors and allow to test lepton universality in the decay of on–shell W bosons at the level of 3.3%. Assuming lepton universality, the measured hadronic branching ratio is $`\mathbf{(}\mathbf{67.78}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.32}\mathbf{)}\mathbf{\%}`$ and the leptonic one is $`\mathbf{(}\mathbf{10.74}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.10}\mathbf{)}\mathbf{\%}`$. These results are consistent with the Standard Model expectations. Statistical and systematic uncertainties give approximately equal contributions to the total errors on the branching ratios. The systematic error is divided equally in the two components which are correlated and uncorrelated between experiments.

Within the Standard Model, the branching fractions of the W boson depend on the six matrix elements $`\mathbf{|}𝐕_{\mathrm{𝐪𝐪}^{\mathbf{}}}\mathbf{|}`$ of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) quark mixing matrix not involving the top quark. In terms of these $`\mathbf{|}𝐕_{\mathrm{𝐪𝐪}^{\mathbf{}}}\mathbf{|}`$ the leptonic branching ratio of the W boson, $`𝓑\mathbf{(}𝐖\mathbf{}\mathbf{}\overline{𝝂}_{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{)}`$, is given by

$$\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{/}𝓑\mathbf{(}𝐖\mathbf{}\mathbf{}\overline{𝝂}_{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{)}\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟑}\mathbf{\left\{}\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{+}\mathbf{[}\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{+}𝜶_𝒔\mathbf{(}𝒎_𝐖^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{)}\mathbf{/}𝝅\mathbf{]}\underset{𝒊\mathbf{=}𝐮\mathbf{,}𝐜\mathbf{,}𝒋\mathbf{=}𝐝\mathbf{,}𝐬\mathbf{,}𝐛}{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{|}𝐕_{𝒊𝒋}\mathbf{|}^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{\right\}}\mathbf{,}$$
(20)
where $`𝜶_𝒔\mathbf{(}𝒎_𝐖^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{)}`$ is the strong coupling constant. Taking $`𝜶_𝒔\mathbf{(}𝒎_𝐖^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{)}\mathbf{=}\mathbf{(}\mathbf{0.121}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.002}\mathbf{)}`$, the measured leptonic branching ratio of the W yields

$$\underset{𝒊\mathbf{=}𝐮\mathbf{,}𝐜\mathbf{,}𝒋\mathbf{=}𝐝\mathbf{,}𝐬\mathbf{,}𝐛}{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{|}𝐕_{𝒊𝒋}\mathbf{|}^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{=}\mathbf{2.026}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{\hspace{0.17em}0.030}\mathbf{(}\mathrm{𝐁𝐫}\mathbf{.}\mathbf{)}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{\hspace{0.17em}0.001}\mathbf{(}𝜶_𝒔\mathbf{)}\mathbf{,}$$
(21)
where the first error is due to the uncertainty on the branching ratio measurement and the second to the uncertainty on $`𝜶_𝒔`$. Using the experimental knowledge of the sum $`\mathbf{|}𝐕_{\mathrm{𝐮𝐝}}\mathbf{|}^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{+}\mathbf{|}𝐕_{\mathrm{𝐮𝐬}}\mathbf{|}^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{+}\mathbf{|}𝐕_{\mathrm{𝐮𝐛}}\mathbf{|}^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{+}\mathbf{|}𝐕_{\mathrm{𝐜𝐝}}\mathbf{|}^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{+}\mathbf{|}𝐕_{\mathrm{𝐜𝐛}}\mathbf{|}^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{=}\mathbf{(}\mathbf{1.0477}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.0074}\mathbf{)}`$ , the above result can be interpreted as a measurement of $`\mathbf{|}𝐕_{\mathrm{𝐜𝐬}}\mathbf{|}`$ which is the least well determined of these matrix elements:

$$\mathbf{|}𝐕_{\mathrm{𝐜𝐬}}\mathbf{|}\mathbf{=}\mathbf{0.989}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{\hspace{0.17em}0.016}\mathbf{.}$$
(22)
The error includes the uncertainties on $`𝜶_𝒔`$ and on the other $`\mathbf{|}𝐕_{\mathrm{𝐪𝐪}^{\mathbf{}}}\mathbf{|}`$ matrix elements but is dominated by the experimental error on the W branching fractions. The uncertainty in the sum of the other CKM matrix elements, which is dominated by the uncertainty on $`\mathbf{|}𝐕_{𝒄𝒅}\mathbf{|}`$, contributes a negligible uncertainty of 0.004 to this determination of $`\mathbf{|}𝐕_{𝒄𝒔}\mathbf{|}`$.

### 8.3 W Mass Measurement

The W boson mass results presented here are obtained from data recorded over a range of centre-of-mass energies, $`\sqrt{𝒔}\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟏𝟔𝟏}\mathbf{}\mathrm{𝟐𝟎𝟐}`$ GeV during the 1996-1999 operation of the LEP collider. These data correspond to an integrated luminosity of approximately 460 pb-1 per experiment. No results from the year 2000 LEP running are included. The results on the W mass quoted below correspond to a mass definition based on a Breit-Wigner denominator with an s-dependent width, $`\mathbf{|}𝒔\mathbf{}𝒎_𝐖^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{+}𝒊𝒔𝚪_𝐖\mathbf{/}𝒎_𝐖\mathbf{|}`$.

Since 1996 the LEP $`𝐞^\mathbf{+}𝐞^{\mathbf{}}`$ collider is operating above the threshold for $`𝐖^\mathbf{+}𝐖^{\mathbf{}}`$ pair production. Initially 10 pb-1 of data were recorded close to $`𝐖^\mathbf{+}𝐖^{\mathbf{}}`$ pair production threshold. At this energy the $`𝐖^\mathbf{+}𝐖^{\mathbf{}}`$ cross section is sensitive to the W boson mass, $`𝒎_𝐖`$. Table 23 summarises the W mass results from the four LEP collaborations based on these data .

Subsequently LEP has operated well above the $`𝐖^\mathbf{+}𝐖^{\mathbf{}}`$ threshold, delivering 450 pb-1 per experiment (excluding the operation in 2000). Above threshold, the $`𝐞^\mathbf{+}𝐞^{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{}𝐖^\mathbf{+}𝐖^{\mathbf{}}`$ cross section has little sensitivity to $`𝒎_𝐖`$. For these data the W boson mass is measured using the method of direct reconstruction where the measured four-momenta of the reconstructed jets and leptons are used to reconstruct the invariant mass on an event-by-event basis. Table 24 summarises the W mass results from the four LEP experiments using the method of direct reconstruction. In addition to the combined numbers, each experiment presents mass measurements from $`𝐖^\mathbf{+}𝐖^{\mathbf{}}`$$`\mathbf{}`$$`𝐪\overline{𝐪}`$$`\mathbf{}\overline{𝝂}_{\mathbf{}}`$ and $`𝐖^\mathbf{+}𝐖^{\mathbf{}}`$$`\mathbf{}`$$`𝐪\overline{𝐪}`$$`𝐪\overline{𝐪}`$ channels separately. The DELPHI, L3 and OPAL collaborations obtain results for the $`𝐪\overline{𝐪}`$$`\mathbf{}\overline{𝝂}_{\mathbf{}}`$ and $`𝐪\overline{𝐪}`$$`𝐪\overline{𝐪}`$ channels using independent fits to data from each channel, taking into account correlated systematic errors. The $`𝐪\overline{𝐪}`$$`\mathbf{}\overline{𝝂}_{\mathbf{}}`$ and $`𝐪\overline{𝐪}`$$`𝐪\overline{𝐪}`$ results quoted by the ALEPH collaboration are obtained from a simultaneous fit to all data which, in addition to other correlations, takes into account the correlated systematic uncertainties between the two channels. The large variation in the systematic uncertainties in the $`𝐖^\mathbf{+}𝐖^{\mathbf{}}`$$`\mathbf{}`$$`𝐪\overline{𝐪}`$$`𝐪\overline{𝐪}`$ channel are caused by differing estimates of the possible effects of colour reconnection (CR) and Bose-Einstein correlations (BEC), discussed below. The systematic errors in the $`𝐖^\mathbf{+}𝐖^{\mathbf{}}`$$`\mathbf{}`$$`𝐪\overline{𝐪}`$$`\mathbf{}\overline{𝝂}_{\mathbf{}}`$ channel are dominated by uncertainties from hadronisation, with estimates ranging from 20-40 MeV.

#### 8.3.1 Combination Procedure

A LEP combined W mass measurement is obtained from the results of the four experiments. To combine the measurements, a more detailed input than that given in Table 24 is required. Each experiment provides a W mass measurement for both $`𝐖^\mathbf{+}𝐖^{\mathbf{}}`$$`\mathbf{}`$$`𝐪\overline{𝐪}`$$`\mathbf{}\overline{𝝂}_{\mathbf{}}`$ and $`𝐖^\mathbf{+}𝐖^{\mathbf{}}`$$`\mathbf{}`$$`𝐪\overline{𝐪}`$$`𝐪\overline{𝐪}`$ channels for each of the four years data taking (1996-1999), a total of 30 measurements (the L3 Collaboration provides results from the 1996 and 1997 data already combined). The subdivision into years enables a proper treatment of the correlated systematic uncertainty from the LEP beam energy and allows for the possibility that the systematic uncertainties depend on the centre-of-mass energy and/or data-taking period. For each result a detailed breakdown of the sources of systematic uncertainty is provided and the correlations are specified. In the combination these inter-year, inter-channel and inter-experiment correlations are included. The main sources of correlated systematic errors are: colour reconnection, Bose-Einstein correlations, hadronisation, the LEP beam energy, and uncertainties from initial and final state radiation. The full correlation matrix for the LEP beam energy is employed.

The four LEP collaborations give different estimates of the systematic errors arising from final state interactions, ranging from 30-66 MeV for colour reconnection and from 20-67 MeV for Bose-Einstein correlations. These spreads could be due to different experimental sensitivities to these effects or, alternatively, they could be a reflection of the different models used to assess the uncertainties. This question is addressed using common Monte Carlo samples with and without CR effects. These are passed through the full detector simulations of each of the four experiments. Studies of these samples demonstrate that the four experiments are equally sensitive to colour reconnection effects, i.e. when looking at the same CR model similar biases are seen by all experiments. For this reason a common value of the CR systematic uncertainty is used in the combination. For Bose-Einstein Correlations, no similar test is made of the respective experimental sensitivities. However, in the absence of evidence that the experiments have different sensitivities to the effect, a common value of the systematic uncertainty from BEC is assumed. In the combination a common colour reconnection error of 50 MeV and a common Bose-Einstein systematic uncertainty of 25 MeV are used. These uncertainties are representative of the numbers estimated by the four LEP collaborations.

#### 8.3.2 LEP Combined W Boson Mass

The combined W mass from direct reconstruction, taking into account all correlations including those between the $`𝐖^\mathbf{+}𝐖^{\mathbf{}}`$$`\mathbf{}`$$`𝐪\overline{𝐪}`$$`\mathbf{}\overline{𝝂}_{\mathbf{}}`$ and $`𝐖^\mathbf{+}𝐖^{\mathbf{}}`$$`\mathbf{}`$$`𝐪\overline{𝐪}`$$`𝐪\overline{𝐪}`$ channels, years and experiments gives

$`𝒎_𝐖\mathbf{(}𝒅𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒕\mathbf{)}\mathbf{=}\mathbf{80.428}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.030}\mathbf{(}\mathrm{𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭}\mathbf{.}\mathbf{)}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.036}\mathbf{(}\mathrm{𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭}\mathbf{.}\mathbf{)}\mathrm{𝐆𝐞𝐕}\mathbf{,}`$
with a $`𝝌^\mathrm{𝟐}`$/d.o.f. of 27.1/29, corresponding to a $`𝝌^\mathrm{𝟐}`$ probability of 57%. The weight of the fully hadronic channel in the combined fit is 0.27. The reduced weight is a consequence of the relatively large size of the current estimates of the systematic errors from CR and BEC. Table 25 gives a breakdown of the contribution to the total error of the systematic errors from different sources and the contribution to total error from statistics. The largest contribution to the systematic error comes from hadronisation uncertainties, which are treated as correlated between the two channels. In the absence of systematic effects the current LEP statistical precision on $`𝒎_𝐖`$ would be $`\mathrm{𝟐𝟓}`$ MeV. The statistical error contribution to the total error from the LEP combination is larger than this (30 MeV) due to the significantly reduced weight of the fully hadronic channel. Table 25 also shows the error breakdown for W mass measurements from the two channels separately (described in the following section).

In addition to the above results, the W boson mass is measured at LEP from the data recorded at threshold (10 pb-1/experiment) for W pair production:

$`𝒎_𝐖\mathbf{(}𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒅\mathbf{)}\mathbf{=}\mathbf{80.40}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.20}\mathbf{(}\mathrm{𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭}\mathbf{.}\mathbf{)}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.07}\mathbf{(}\mathrm{𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭}\mathbf{.}\mathbf{)}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.03}\mathbf{(}\mathrm{𝐋𝐄𝐏}\mathbf{)}\mathrm{𝐆𝐞𝐕}\mathbf{.}`$
When this is combined with the much more precise results obtained from direct reconstruction one obtains a W mass measurement of

$`𝒎_𝐖\mathbf{=}\mathbf{80.427}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.046}\mathrm{𝐆𝐞𝐕}\mathbf{.}`$
In combining the threshold and direct reconstruction measurements the only correlated systematic uncertainty is that from the LEP beam energy.

#### 8.3.3 Consistency Checks

In addition to fitting for the combined W mass from the $`𝐖^\mathbf{+}𝐖^{\mathbf{}}`$$`\mathbf{}`$$`𝐪\overline{𝐪}`$$`\mathbf{}\overline{𝝂}_{\mathbf{}}`$ and $`𝐖^\mathbf{+}𝐖^{\mathbf{}}`$$`\mathbf{}`$$`𝐪\overline{𝐪}`$$`𝐪\overline{𝐪}`$ channels, the difference between the W boson mass measurements obtained from the fully hadronic and semileptonic channels, $`𝚫𝒎_𝐖\mathbf{(}𝐪\overline{𝐪}𝐪\overline{𝐪}\mathbf{}𝐪\overline{𝐪}\mathbf{}\overline{𝝂}_{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{)}`$, can be determined. A significant non-zero value for $`𝚫𝒎_𝐖`$ could indicate that FSI effects are biasing the value of $`𝒎_𝐖`$ determined from $`𝐖^\mathbf{+}𝐖^{\mathbf{}}`$$`\mathbf{}`$$`𝐪\overline{𝐪}`$$`𝐪\overline{𝐪}`$ events. Since $`𝚫𝒎_𝐖`$ is primarily of interest as a check of the possible effects of final state interactions, the errors from CR and BEC are set to zero in its determination, giving:

$`𝚫𝒎_𝐖\mathbf{(}𝐪\overline{𝐪}𝐪\overline{𝐪}\mathbf{}𝐪\overline{𝐪}\mathbf{}\overline{𝝂}_{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{)}\mathbf{=}\mathbf{+}\mathrm{𝟓}\mathbf{\pm }\mathrm{𝟓𝟏}\mathrm{𝐌𝐞𝐕}\mathbf{.}`$
This result is obtained from a fit to the results of the four experiments taking into account correlations between: the experiments, the two channels and different years. This result is almost unchanged if the systematic part of the error on $`𝒎_𝐖`$ from fragmentation effects is considered as uncorrelated between experiments and channels, although the uncertainty increases by about 17%. The masses from the two channels obtained from this fit are

$`𝒎_𝐖\mathbf{(}𝐖^\mathbf{+}𝐖^{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{}𝐪\overline{𝐪}\mathbf{}\overline{𝝂}_{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{)}\mathbf{=}\mathbf{80.427}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.038}\mathbf{(}\mathrm{𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭}\mathbf{.}\mathbf{)}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.035}\mathbf{(}\mathrm{𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭}\mathbf{.}\mathbf{)}\mathrm{𝐆𝐞𝐕}\mathbf{,}`$
$`𝒎_𝐖\mathbf{(}𝐖^\mathbf{+}𝐖^{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{}𝐪\overline{𝐪}𝐪\overline{𝐪}\mathbf{)}\mathbf{=}\mathbf{80.432}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.034}\mathbf{(}\mathrm{𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭}\mathbf{.}\mathbf{)}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.064}\mathbf{(}\mathrm{𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭}\mathbf{.}\mathbf{)}\mathrm{𝐆𝐞𝐕}\mathbf{.}`$
These two results are correlated having a correlation coefficient of 0.29. The value of $`𝝌^\mathrm{𝟐}`$/d.o.f is 27.1/28, corresponding to a $`𝝌^\mathrm{𝟐}`$ probability of 52$`\mathbf{\%}`$. These results and the correlation between them can be used to combine the two measurements or to form the mass difference.

Experimentally, separate $`𝒎_𝐖`$ measurements are obtained from the $`𝐖^\mathbf{+}𝐖^{\mathbf{}}`$$`\mathbf{}`$$`𝐪\overline{𝐪}`$$`\mathbf{}\overline{𝝂}_{\mathbf{}}`$ and $`𝐖^\mathbf{+}𝐖^{\mathbf{}}`$$`\mathbf{}`$$`𝐪\overline{𝐪}`$$`𝐪\overline{𝐪}`$ channels. The combination using only the $`𝐪\overline{𝐪}`$$`\mathbf{}\overline{𝝂}_{\mathbf{}}`$ measurements yields

$`𝒎_𝐖^{𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒑}\mathbf{(}𝐖^\mathbf{+}𝐖^{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{}𝐪\overline{𝐪}\mathbf{}\overline{𝝂}_{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{)}\mathbf{=}\mathbf{80.429}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.038}\mathbf{(}\mathrm{𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭}\mathbf{.}\mathbf{)}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.035}\mathbf{(}\mathrm{𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭}\mathbf{.}\mathbf{)}\mathrm{𝐆𝐞𝐕}\mathbf{.}`$
This result is independent of the measurements in the $`𝐖^\mathbf{+}𝐖^{\mathbf{}}`$$`\mathbf{}`$$`𝐪\overline{𝐪}`$$`𝐪\overline{𝐪}`$ channel. The systematic error is dominated by fragmentation uncertainties ($`\mathbf{\pm }\mathrm{𝟐𝟔}`$ MeV) and the uncertainty in the LEP centre-of-mass energy ($`\mathbf{\pm }\mathrm{𝟏𝟕}`$ MeV). The independent average over all $`𝐪\overline{𝐪}`$$`𝐪\overline{𝐪}`$ measurements only gives

$`𝒎_𝐖^{𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒑}\mathbf{(}𝐖^\mathbf{+}𝐖^{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{}𝐪\overline{𝐪}𝐪\overline{𝐪}\mathbf{)}\mathbf{=}\mathbf{80.424}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.034}\mathbf{(}\mathrm{𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭}\mathbf{.}\mathbf{)}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.064}\mathbf{(}\mathrm{𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭}\mathbf{.}\mathbf{)}\mathrm{𝐆𝐞𝐕}\mathbf{.}`$
where the dominant contributions to the systematic error arise from BE/CR ($`\mathbf{\pm }\mathrm{𝟓𝟔}`$ MeV), fragmentation ($`\mathbf{\pm }\mathrm{𝟐𝟑}`$ MeV) and from the uncertainty in the LEP centre-of-mass energy ($`\mathbf{\pm }\mathrm{𝟏𝟕}`$ MeV).

#### 8.3.4 LEP Combined W Boson Width

The method of direct reconstruction is also used for the direct measurement of the width of the W boson. The results of the four LEP experiments are shown in Table 26.

A simultaneous fit to the results of the four LEP collaborations is performed in the same way as for the $`𝒎_𝐖`$ measurement. Correlated systematic uncertainties are taken into account to give:

$`𝚪_𝐖\mathbf{=}\mathbf{2.12}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.08}\mathbf{(}\mathrm{𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭}\mathbf{.}\mathbf{)}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.07}\mathbf{(}\mathrm{𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭}\mathbf{.}\mathbf{)}\mathrm{𝐆𝐞𝐕}\mathbf{,}`$
with a $`𝝌^\mathrm{𝟐}`$/d.o.f. of 13.7/17.

Currently no LEP combined value for $`𝚪_𝐖`$ is obtained from the $`𝐖^\mathbf{+}𝐖^{\mathbf{}}`$$`\mathbf{}`$$`𝐪\overline{𝐪}`$$`\mathbf{}\overline{𝝂}_{\mathbf{}}`$ and $`𝐖^\mathbf{+}𝐖^{\mathbf{}}`$$`\mathbf{}`$$`𝐪\overline{𝐪}`$$`𝐪\overline{𝐪}`$ channels separately.

#### 8.3.5 Summary

The results of the four LEP experiments on the mass and width of the W boson are combined taking into account correlated systematic uncertainties, giving:

$`𝒎_𝐖`$ $`\mathbf{=}`$ $`\mathbf{80.427}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.046}\mathrm{𝐆𝐞𝐕}\mathbf{,}`$
$`𝚪_𝐖`$ $`\mathbf{=}`$ $`\mathbf{2.12}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.11}\mathrm{𝐆𝐞𝐕}\mathbf{.}`$
## 9 Single–W Production Cross Section

Updates with respect to last summer:
This is a new section.

Preliminary single–W results for data collected at $`\sqrt{𝒔}\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟏𝟖𝟑}`$–202 GeV are available. No preliminary analysis of the data collected in the year 2000 at $`\sqrt{𝒔}\mathbf{>}\mathrm{𝟐𝟎𝟎}`$ GeV was prepared in time for the summer conferences.

A common definition of the single–W production cross section is adopted, to allow direct comparisons and the combination of the results obtained by the four experiments. Single–W production is defined by the complete $`𝒕`$-channel subset of Feynman diagrams contributing to the $`𝐞𝝂𝒇𝒇^{\mathbf{}}`$ final states, with additional cuts on kinematic variables to exclude the regions of the phase space dominated by multiperipheral diagrams, where the cross section calculation is affected by large uncertainties. The advantage of this definition is that a gauge invariant set of diagrams is taken, which has a small interference with the $`𝒔`$-channel one. In addition, no angular cuts due to the specific detector acceptances are used.

The kinematic cuts used in the cross section definition are (charge conjugation is implied in the definition):

* $`𝑴_{\mathrm{𝐪𝐪}^{\mathbf{}}}\mathbf{>}\mathrm{𝟒𝟓}`$ GeV for the $`𝐞𝝂\mathrm{𝐪𝐪}^{\mathbf{}}`$ final states,
* $`𝑬_\mathbf{}^\mathbf{+}\mathbf{>}\mathrm{𝟐𝟎}`$ GeV for the $`𝐞𝝂\mathbf{}𝝂`$ final states (with $`\mathbf{}\mathbf{=}𝝁\mathbf{,}𝝉`$),
* $`\mathbf{|}𝒄𝒐𝒔\mathbf{(}𝜽_𝐞^{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{)}\mathbf{|}\mathbf{>}\mathbf{0.95}\mathbf{,}\mathbf{|}𝒄𝒐𝒔\mathbf{(}𝜽_{𝐞^\mathbf{+}}\mathbf{)}\mathbf{|}\mathbf{<}\mathbf{0.95}\mathbf{,}𝑬_{𝐞^\mathbf{+}}\mathbf{>}\mathrm{𝟐𝟎}`$ GeV for the $`𝐞𝝂𝐞𝝂`$ final state.

The results of the single experiments and of the LEP average are summarised for the different centre-of-mass energies in Table 27. Given the statistical precision of the single–W measurements, results are combined assuming uncorrelated systematic errors between experiments and using expected statistical errors.

Since winter 2000 conferences , the only update concerns the addition of one theoretical prediction  to the single–W production cross section curve as a function of the centre-of-mass energy for the hadronic final state, based on the exact treatment of the evolution of the energy scale for $`𝜶_{𝒆𝒎}`$  in the 4f matrix element. This evolution is only approximated (at the level of 1–2%) by one of the codes previously used , and introduced by rescaling the cross section in one other code . The data at $`\sqrt{𝒔}\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟏𝟖𝟑}`$–202 GeV are compared with the theoretical predictions in Figure 11.

It should be remarked that all the theoretical predictions are scaled upward by 4% , since all codes implement QED radiative corrections (mainly due to initial state radiation) using the wrong energy scale s in the ISR structure functions which is not adequate for this process dominated by $`𝒕`$-channel exchange diagrams. The correction factor of 4% is derived in  from a comparison of grc4f  and SWAP  for different scales in the structure functions. Since this is only an approximation of the complete $`𝓞\mathbf{(}𝜶\mathbf{)}`$ correction for the single W process, a 100% uncertainty is conservatively assigned to this 4% correction. This constitutes the major part of the theoretical uncertainty currently assigned to the predictions (5%, as discussed in ), which is becoming a limiting factor for the extraction of triple gauge couplings from the single W events .

## 10 Measurement of the ZZ Production Cross Section

Updates with respect to last summer:
All experiments have published results up to 189 GeV, new results at higher energies are available.

At centre-of-mass energies above twice the Z boson mass, the production of pairs of Z bosons is possible. All experiments have published final results  on the Z–pair (NC02) production cross section at $`\sqrt{𝒔}\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟏𝟖𝟑}`$ and 189 GeV. L3  has updated its preliminary results for $`\sqrt{𝒔}\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟏𝟗𝟐}`$–202 GeV, whereas ALEPH , DELPHI  and OPAL  preliminary results are unchanged since the winter conferences. All experiments have provided preliminary results  based on an integrated luminosity of approximately 90 $`\mathrm{𝐩𝐛}^\mathbf{}\mathrm{𝟏}`$ collected in the year 2000 at centre-of-mass energies between 200 and 208 GeV.

The combination of results is performed using the expected statistical error of each analysis, to avoid biases due to the limited number of events selected. The following components of the systematic errors are considered correlated between experiments:

* $`\mathbf{\pm }\mathrm{𝟓}\mathbf{\%}`$ uncertainty on the 2–fermion background rate.
* $`\mathbf{\pm }\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{\%}`$ uncertainty on the WW background rate.
* $`\mathbf{\pm }\mathrm{𝟏𝟎}\mathbf{\%}`$ uncertainty on the $`𝐙^\mathrm{𝟎}𝐞^\mathbf{+}𝐞^{\mathbf{}}`$ background rate.
* the uncertainty on the b quark modelling.

The common error ranges from 0.01 to 0.03 pb.

The results of the single experiments and of the LEP average are summarised for the different centre-of-mass energies in Table 28. All results are preliminary, with the exception of those at $`\sqrt{𝒔}\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟏𝟖𝟑}`$ and 189 GeV. The results are shown in Figure 12 as a function of the LEP centre-of-mass energy and compared to the YFSZZ  and ZZTO  predictions, which have an estimated uncertainty of $`\mathbf{\pm }\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{\%}`$ . These results supersede those presented in  for $`\sqrt{𝒔}\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟏𝟖𝟑}`$–202 GeV. The data do not show any significant deviation from the theoretical expectations.

## 11 Electroweak Gauge Boson Couplings

Updates with respect to last summer:
This is a new section

The W-pair production process, $`𝐞^\mathbf{+}𝐞^{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{}𝐖^\mathbf{+}𝐖^{\mathbf{}}`$, involves the triple gauge boson vertices between the $`𝐖^\mathbf{+}𝐖^{\mathbf{}}`$ and the Z or the photon. Up-to the end of 1999, more than 7000 W-pair events were collected by each experiment. Single W ($`𝐞𝝂𝐖`$) and single photon ($`𝝂\overline{𝝂}𝜸`$) production at LEP are sensitive to the $`\mathrm{𝐖𝐖}𝜸`$ vertex. The measurement of these charged triple gauge boson couplings and the search for possible anomalous contributions due to the effects of new physics beyond the Standard Model is one of the principal physics goals at LEP-II .

At centre-of-mass energies exceeding twice the Z boson mass, pair production of Z bosons is kinematically allowed. Here, one searches for the possible existence of triple vertices involving only neutral electroweak gauge bosons. Such vertices could also contribute to Z$`𝜸`$ production. In contrast to triple gauge boson vertices with two charged gauge bosons, purely neutral gauge boson vertices do not occur in the Standard Model of electroweak interactions.

Within the Standard Model, quartic electroweak gauge boson vertices with at least two charged gauge bosons exist. In $`𝐞^\mathbf{+}𝐞^{\mathbf{}}`$ collisions at LEP-II centre-of-mass energies, the $`\mathrm{𝐖𝐖𝐙}𝜸`$ and $`\mathrm{𝐖𝐖}𝜸𝜸`$ vertices contribute to $`\mathrm{𝐖𝐖}𝜸`$ and $`𝝂\overline{𝝂}𝜸𝜸`$ production in $`𝒔`$-channel and $`𝒕`$-channel, respectively. The effect of the Standard Model quartic electroweak vertices is below the sensitivity of LEP-II. Thus, anomalous quartic vertices are searched for in the production of $`\mathrm{𝐖𝐖}𝜸`$ and $`𝝂\overline{𝝂}𝜸𝜸`$ but also $`𝐙𝜸𝜸`$ final states.

In this note we present the combination of results on electroweak gauge boson couplings based on the data collected by the four LEP experiments at LEP-II. Charged TGCs , neutral TGCs  as well as QGCs  are combined.

### 11.1 Charged Triple Gauge Boson Couplings

The parametrisation of the charged triple gauge boson vertices is described in References . The most general Lorentz invariant Lagrangian which describes the charged triple gauge boson interaction contains fourteen independent complex couplings, seven describing the WW$`𝜸`$ vertex and seven describing the WWZ vertex. Assuming electromagnetic gauge invariance as well as CP conservation, the number of independent TGCs reduces to six. One common set is {$`𝒈_\mathrm{𝟏}^𝐳`$, $`𝜿_𝜸`$, $`𝜿_𝐳`$, $`𝝀_𝜸`$, $`𝝀_𝐳`$, $`𝒈_\mathrm{𝟓}^𝐙`$} where $`𝒈_\mathrm{𝟏}^𝐳\mathbf{=}𝜿_𝜸\mathbf{=}𝜿_𝐳\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟏}`$ and $`𝝀_𝜸\mathbf{=}𝝀_𝐳\mathbf{=}𝒈_\mathrm{𝟓}^𝐙\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟎}`$ in the Standard Model. Except $`𝒈_\mathrm{𝟓}^𝐙`$, all these couplings also conserve C and P separately.

The parameters proposed in  and used here are:

$`𝚫𝒈_\mathrm{𝟏}^𝐳`$ $`\mathbf{}`$ $`𝒈_\mathrm{𝟏}^𝐳\mathbf{}\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{,}`$ (23)
$`𝚫𝜿_𝜸`$ $`\mathbf{}`$ $`𝜿_𝜸\mathbf{}\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{,}`$ (24)
$`𝝀_𝜸`$ $`𝒂𝒏𝒅`$ $`𝒈_\mathrm{𝟓}^𝐙`$ (25)
with the gauge constraints:

$`𝚫𝜿_𝐳`$ $`\mathbf{}`$ $`𝜿_𝐳\mathbf{}\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{=}𝚫𝒈_\mathrm{𝟏}^𝐳\mathbf{}𝚫𝜿_𝜸\mathrm{𝐭𝐚𝐧}^\mathrm{𝟐}𝜽_𝐖`$ (26)
$`𝝀_𝐳`$ $`\mathbf{=}`$ $`𝝀_𝜸\mathbf{,}`$ (27)
where $`𝚫`$ indicates the deviation of the respective coupling from its Standard Model value of unity, and $`𝜽_𝑾`$ is the weak mixing angle. The couplings are considered as real, with the imaginary parts fixed to zero.

### 11.2 Neutral Triple Gauge Boson Couplings

There are two possible anomalous triple vertices in the neutral sector. Each is parametrised by the most general Lorentz and $`𝑼\mathbf{(}\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{)}_{\mathrm{𝐄𝐌}}`$ invariant Lagrangian plus Bose symmetry, as described in References .

The first vertex refers to anomalous Z$`𝜸𝜸`$ and ZZ$`𝜸`$ couplings which are accessible at LEP in the process $`𝐞^\mathbf{+}𝐞^{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{}𝐙𝜸`$. The parametrisation contains eight couplings: $`𝒉_𝒊^𝑽`$ with $`𝒊\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{,}\mathbf{}\mathbf{,}\mathrm{𝟒}`$ and $`𝑽\mathbf{=}𝜸`$,Z. The superscript $`𝜸`$ refers to Z$`𝜸𝜸`$ couplings and superscript Z refers to ZZ$`𝜸`$ couplings. The photon and the Z boson in the final state are considered as on-shell particles, while the third boson at the triple vertex is off shell. The couplings $`𝒉_\mathrm{𝟏}^𝑽`$ and $`𝒉_\mathrm{𝟐}^𝑽`$ are CP-odd while $`𝒉_\mathrm{𝟑}^𝑽`$ and $`𝒉_\mathrm{𝟒}^𝑽`$ are CP-even.

The second vertex refers to anomalous ZZ$`𝜸`$ and ZZZ couplings which are accessible at LEP in the process $`𝐞^\mathbf{+}𝐞^{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{}`$ ZZ. This anomalous vertex is parametrised in terms of four couplings: $`𝒇_𝒊^𝑽`$ with $`𝒊\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟒}\mathbf{,}\mathrm{𝟓}`$ and $`𝑽\mathbf{=}𝜸`$,Z. The superscript $`𝜸`$ refers to ZZ$`𝜸`$ couplings and the superscript Z refers to ZZZ couplings. Both Z bosons in the final state are assumed to be on-shell, while the third boson at the triple vertex is off-shell. The couplings $`𝒇_\mathrm{𝟒}^𝑽`$ are CP-odd whereas $`𝒇_\mathrm{𝟓}^𝑽`$ are CP-even.

Note that the $`𝒉_𝒊^𝑽`$ and $`𝒇_𝒊^𝑽`$ couplings are independent of each other. They are considered as real, with the imaginary parts fixed to zero. They vanish in the Standard Model at tree level.

### 11.3 Quartic Gauge Boson Couplings

Anomalous contributions to electroweak quartic vertices are considered in the framework of References . Three lowest-dimensional operators leading to quartic vertices not causing anomalous TGCs are considered. The corresponding couplings are $`𝒂_\mathrm{𝟎}\mathbf{/}𝚲^\mathrm{𝟐}`$, $`𝒂_𝒄\mathbf{/}𝚲^\mathrm{𝟐}`$ and $`𝒂_𝒏\mathbf{/}𝚲^\mathrm{𝟐}`$, where $`𝚲`$ represents the energy scale of new physics. The couplings $`𝒂_\mathrm{𝟎}\mathbf{/}𝚲^\mathrm{𝟐}`$ and $`𝒂_𝒄\mathbf{/}𝚲^\mathrm{𝟐}`$ parametrise variations in the $`\mathrm{𝐖𝐖}𝜸𝜸`$ and $`\mathrm{𝐙𝐙}𝜸𝜸`$ vertices, while $`𝒂_𝒏\mathbf{/}𝚲^\mathrm{𝟐}`$ affects purely the $`\mathrm{𝐖𝐖𝐙}𝜸`$ vertex. The couplings $`𝒂_\mathrm{𝟎}\mathbf{/}𝚲^\mathrm{𝟐}`$ and $`𝒂_𝒄\mathbf{/}𝚲^\mathrm{𝟐}`$ conserve C and P, while the coupling $`𝒂_𝒏\mathbf{/}𝚲^\mathrm{𝟐}`$ is CP violating. The production of $`\mathrm{𝐖𝐖}𝜸`$ depends on all three couplings. The production of $`𝝂\overline{𝝂}𝜸𝜸`$ and $`𝐙𝜸𝜸`$ depends only on $`𝒂_\mathrm{𝟎}\mathbf{/}𝚲^\mathrm{𝟐}`$ and $`𝒂_𝒄\mathbf{/}𝚲^\mathrm{𝟐}`$, the former through the $`\mathrm{𝐖𝐖}𝜸𝜸`$ vertex, the latter through the $`\mathrm{𝐙𝐙}𝜸𝜸`$ vertex. The couplings are considered as real, with the imaginary parts fixed to zero. They vanish in the Standard Model at tree level.

A more detailed description of QGCs has recently appeared , in which it is suggested that the coupling $`𝒂_\mathrm{𝟎}\mathbf{/}𝚲^\mathrm{𝟐}`$ and $`𝒂_𝒄\mathbf{/}𝚲^\mathrm{𝟐}`$ describing the anomalous $`\mathrm{𝐖𝐖}𝜸𝜸`$ vertex should not be assumed to be the same couplings as those describing the anomalous $`\mathrm{𝐙𝐙}𝜸𝜸`$ vertex. The experimental results on these vertices are therefore also given separately.

### 11.4 Measurements

The results presented comprise measurements of all electroweak gauge boson couplings discussed above. In most cases, the results are based on the data collected at LEP-II until the end of 1999 at centre-of-mass energies up to 202 GeV. The experiments already combine different processes and final states for each coupling. In each case, the individual references should be consulted for the details on the data samples used.

For charged TGCs, the experimental analyses study different channels, typically the semileptonic, fully hadronic and fully leptonic W-pair decays . Anomalous TGCs affect both the total production cross section and the shape of the differential cross section as a function of the polar W- production angle. The relative contributions of each helicity state of the W bosons are also changed, which in turn affects the distributions of their decay products. The analyses presented by each experiment make use of different combinations of each of these quantities. In general, however, all analyses use at least the expected variations of the total production cross section and the W- production angle. Results from $`𝐞𝝂𝐖`$ and $`𝝂\overline{𝝂}𝜸`$ production are included by some experiments. Single W production is particularly sensitive to $`𝜿_𝜸`$, thus providing information complementary to that from W-pair production.

For neutral TGCs, the analyses mainly use measurements of the total cross sections of Z$`𝜸`$ and ZZ production, though the use of differential distributions increases the sensitivity. The individual references should be consulted concerning the details of the analyses for the $`𝒉_𝒊^𝑽`$ couplings  and the $`𝒇_𝒊^𝑽`$ couplings .999For quoting results on the $`f_i^V`$ couplings, DELPHI  uses a convention for the sign of $`f_i^V`$ opposite to that used by L3  and OPAL . For DELPHI and combined LEP results presented in this note, the DELPHI $`f_i^V`$ measurements are modified to conform to the same sign convention as used by L3 and OPAL.

For QGCs, the experiments investigate $`\mathrm{𝐖𝐖}𝜸`$, $`𝝂\overline{𝝂}𝜸𝜸`$ and $`𝐙𝜸𝜸`$ production. Besides the total cross section, the sensitive variables analysed are photon energies ($`\mathrm{𝐖𝐖}𝜸`$ and $`𝐙𝜸𝜸`$) and recoil masses ($`𝝂\overline{𝝂}𝜸𝜸`$). Again, the individual references should be consulted for the details in the determination of the QGCs $`𝒂_\mathrm{𝟎}\mathbf{/}𝚲^\mathrm{𝟐}`$, $`𝒂_𝒄\mathbf{/}𝚲^\mathrm{𝟐}`$ and $`𝒂_𝒏\mathbf{/}𝚲^\mathrm{𝟐}`$ .

### 11.5 Combination Procedure

The combination procedure is modified compared to previous LEP combinations of electroweak gauge boson couplings  in order to treat systematic uncertainties correlated between the experiments.

Each experiment provides the negative log likelihood, $`\mathbf{}𝚫\mathrm{𝐥𝐨𝐠}𝓛`$, as a function of the coupling parameters (one, two, or three) to be combined. The single parameter analyses are performed fixing the values of all other parameters to their Standard Model value. The two- and three-parameter analyses are performed setting the remaining parameters to their Standard Model value. For the charged TGCs, the gauge constraints listed in Section 11.1 are always enforced.

The $`\mathbf{}𝚫\mathrm{𝐥𝐨𝐠}𝓛`$ functions from each experiment include statistical as well as all systematic uncertainties considered as uncorrelated between experiments. For both single- and multi-parameter combinations, the individual $`\mathbf{}𝚫\mathrm{𝐥𝐨𝐠}𝓛`$ functions are added. It is necessary to use the $`\mathbf{}𝚫\mathrm{𝐥𝐨𝐠}𝓛`$ functions directly for the combination as in some cases they are not parabolic, so that it is not possible to combine the results correctly by simply taking weighted averages of the measurements.

The main contributions to the systematic uncertainties uncorrelated between experiments arise from detector effects, backgrounds in the selected samples, limited Monte Carlo statistics and the fitting methods. Their importance varies for each experiment and the individual references should be consulted for details.

The systematic uncertainties arising from the following sources are treated as correlated between the experiments: the uncertainty on the theoretical cross section prediction ($`𝐖^\mathbf{+}𝐖^{\mathbf{}}`$, $`𝐞𝝂𝐖`$ and Z$`𝜸`$ production), fragmentation effects ($`𝐖^\mathbf{+}𝐖^{\mathbf{}}`$ production), and Bose-Einstein correlations and colour-reconnection effects (fully hadronic W-pair decays). While the correlated systematic uncertainties are small in Z$`𝜸`$ production, they are sizeable for charged TGCs. In particular, the uncertainty on the theoretical cross section prediction for the $`𝐞𝝂𝐖`$ process causes a large reduction in the sensitivity of this process to charged TGCs. For ZZ production, the uncertainty on the theoretical cross section prediction is small compared to the statistical accuracy and is neglected. For other sources of correlated systematic uncertainties, such as those arising from the LEP beam energy or the W mass, the effect of their correlation on the combination result is negligible.

The correlated systematic uncertainties are applied by scaling the likelihood functions by the squared ratio of the statistical and uncorrelated systematic uncertainty over the total uncertainty including all correlated uncertainties. This procedure to treat correlations is an approximation in the case where the log-likelihood function is not parabolic.

The one standard deviation uncertainties (68% confidence level) are obtained by taking the coupling values where $`\mathbf{}𝚫\mathrm{𝐥𝐨𝐠}𝓛\mathbf{=}\mathbf{+}\mathbf{0.5}`$ above the minimum. The 95% confidence level (C.L.) limits are given by the coupling values where $`\mathbf{}𝚫\mathrm{𝐥𝐨𝐠}𝓛\mathbf{=}\mathbf{+}\mathbf{1.92}`$ above the minimum. These cut-off values are used for obtaining the results of both single- and multi-parameter analyses reported here. Note that in the case of the neutral TGCs and the QGCs, double minima structures appear in the negative log-likelihood curves. For multi-parameter analyses, the 68% C.L. contour curves for any pair of couplings are obtained by requiring $`\mathbf{}𝚫\mathrm{𝐥𝐨𝐠}𝓛\mathbf{=}\mathbf{+}\mathbf{1.15}`$, while for the 95% C.L. contour curves $`\mathbf{}𝚫\mathrm{𝐥𝐨𝐠}𝓛\mathbf{=}\mathbf{+}\mathbf{3.0}`$ is required.

### 11.6 Results

We present below results on combination of the four LEP experiments on the various electroweak gauge boson couplings. The results quoted individually for each experiment, summarised in Appendix B are calculated using the method described in Section 11.5. Thus, they sometimes differ slightly from those reported in the individual references.

#### 11.6.1 Charged Triple Gauge Boson Couplings

Results of the combination of charged triple gauge boson couplings are given in Tables 29, 30 and 31 for the single, two and three-parameter analyses respectively. Individual $`\mathbf{}𝚫\mathrm{𝐥𝐨𝐠}𝓛`$ curves and their sum are shown in Figure 13 for the single-parameter analysis. The 68% C.L. and 95% C.L. contours curves resulting from the combinations of the two-dimensional likelihood curves are shown in Figure 14.

#### 11.6.2 Neutral Triple Gauge Boson Couplings in Z$`𝜸`$ Production

Results of the combination of neutral triple gauge boson couplings in Z$`𝜸`$ production are given in Tables 32 and 33 for the single, two-parameter analyses respectively. The 68% C.L. and 95% C.L. contours curves resulting from the combinations of the two-dimensional likelihood curves are shown in Figure 15.

#### 11.6.3 Neutral Triple Gauge Boson Couplings in ZZ Production

Results of the combination of neutral triple gauge boson couplings in ZZ production are given in Tables 34 and 35 for the single, two-parameter analyses respectively. The 68% C.L. and 95% C.L. contours curves resulting from the combinations of the two-dimensional likelihood curves are shown in Figure 16.

#### 11.6.4 Quartic Gauge Boson Couplings

The individual $`\mathbf{}𝚫\mathrm{𝐥𝐨𝐠}𝓛`$ curves and their sum are shown in Figure 17 for the $`\mathrm{𝐖𝐖}𝜸`$ and $`𝝂\overline{𝝂}𝜸𝜸`$ channels. The results of the combination are given in Table 36.

### 11.7 Conclusions

The existence of triple gauge boson couplings among the electroweak gauge bosons is experimentally verified. No significant deviation from the Standard Model predictions is seen for any of the electroweak gauge boson couplings investigated. As an example, these data allow the Kaluza-Klein theory , in which $`𝜿_𝜸\mathbf{=}\mathbf{}\mathrm{𝟐}`$, to be excluded .

## 12 Interpretation of Results

Updates with respect to last summer:
Results on $`\mathrm{𝐬𝐢𝐧}^\mathrm{𝟐}𝜽_{\mathrm{𝐞𝐟𝐟}}^{\mathrm{𝐥𝐞𝐩𝐭}}`$ from asymmetries are averaged for leptonic and hadronic channels separately. A new fit for the top mass is performed where all data except the direct measurement of $`𝒎_𝐭`$ is included.

### 12.1 Number of Neutrino Species

An important aspect of our measurement concerns the information related to $`𝐙`$ decays into invisible channels. Using the results of Table 3, the ratio of the $`𝐙`$ decay width into invisible particles and the leptonic decay width is determined:

$`𝚪_{\mathrm{𝐢𝐧𝐯}}\mathbf{/}𝚪_{\mathbf{}\mathbf{}}`$ $`\mathbf{=}`$ $`\mathbf{5.942}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.016}\mathbf{.}`$ (28)
The Standard Model value for the ratio of the partial widths to neutrinos and charged leptons is:

$`\mathbf{(}𝚪_{𝝂𝝂}\mathbf{/}𝚪_{\mathbf{}\mathbf{}}\mathbf{)}_{\mathrm{𝐒𝐌}}`$ $`\mathbf{=}`$ $`\mathbf{1.9912}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.0012}\mathbf{.}`$ (29)
The central value is evaluated for $`𝒎_𝐙\mathbf{=}\mathbf{91.1875}`$ GeV and the error quoted accounts for a variation of $`𝒎_𝐭`$ in the range $`𝒎_𝐭\mathbf{=}\mathbf{174.3}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{5.1}\mathrm{𝐆𝐞𝐕}`$ and a variation of $`𝒎_𝐇`$ in the range $`\mathrm{𝟏𝟎𝟎}\mathrm{𝐆𝐞𝐕}\mathbf{}𝒎_𝐇\mathbf{}\mathrm{𝟏𝟎𝟎𝟎}\mathrm{𝐆𝐞𝐕}`$. The number of light neutrino species is given by the ratio of the two expressions listed above:

$`𝑵_𝝂`$ $`\mathbf{=}`$ $`\mathbf{2.9841}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.0083}\mathbf{,}`$ (30)
which is 2 standard deviations below the expected value of 3.

Alternatively, one can assume 3 neutrino species and determine the width from additional invisible decays of the Z. This yields

$`𝚫𝚪_{\mathrm{𝐢𝐧𝐯}}`$ $`\mathbf{=}`$ $`\mathbf{}\mathbf{2.7}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{1.6}\mathrm{𝐌𝐞𝐕}\mathbf{.}`$ (31)
The measured total width is below the Standard Model expectation. If a conservative approach is taken to limit the result to only positive values of $`𝚫𝚪_{\mathrm{𝐢𝐧𝐯}}`$, then the 95% CL upper limit on additional invisible decays of the Z is

$`𝚫𝚪_{\mathrm{𝐢𝐧𝐯}}`$ $`\mathbf{<}`$ $`\mathbf{2.0}\mathrm{𝐌𝐞𝐕}\mathbf{.}`$ (32)
The uncertainties on $`𝑵_𝝂`$ and $`𝚫𝚪_{\mathrm{𝐢𝐧𝐯}}`$ are dominated by the theoretical error on the luminosity. These results have therefore improved due to the improved theoretical calculations on Bhabha scattering.

### 12.2 The Coupling Parameters $`𝓐_𝐟`$

The coupling parameters $`𝓐_𝐟`$ are defined in terms of the effective vector and axial-vector neutral current couplings of fermions (Equation (4)). The LEP measurements of the forward-backward asymmetries of charged leptons (Section 2) and b and c quarks (Section 5) determine the products $`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}^{\mathrm{𝟎}\mathbf{,}𝐟}\mathbf{=}\frac{\mathrm{𝟑}}{\mathrm{𝟒}}𝓐_𝐞𝓐_𝐟`$ (Equation (3)). The LEP measurements of the $`𝝉`$ polarisation (Section 3), $`𝓟_𝝉\mathbf{(}\mathrm{𝐜𝐨𝐬}𝜽\mathbf{)}`$, determine $`𝓐_𝝉`$ and $`𝓐_𝐞`$ separately (Equation (6)).

Table 37 shows the results for the leptonic coupling parameter $`𝓐_{\mathbf{}}`$ from the LEP and SLD measurements, assuming lepton universality.

Using the measurements of $`𝓐_{\mathbf{}}`$ one can extract $`𝓐_𝐛`$ and $`𝓐_𝐜`$ from the LEP measurements of the b and c quark asymmetries. The SLD measurements of the left-right forward-backward asymmetries for b and c quarks are direct determinations of $`𝓐_𝐛`$ and $`𝓐_𝐜`$. Table 38 shows the results on the quark coupling parameters $`𝓐_𝐛`$ and $`𝓐_𝐜`$ derived from LEP or SLD measurements separately (Equations 17 and 18) and from the combination of LEP+SLD measurements (Equation 18). The LEP extracted values of $`𝓐_𝐛`$ and $`𝓐_𝐜`$ in excellent agreement with the SLD measurements, and in reasonable agreement with the Standard Model predictions (0.935 and 0.668, respectively, essentially independent of $`𝒎_𝐭`$ and $`𝒎_𝐇`$). The combination of LEP and SLD of $`𝓐_𝐛`$ and $`𝓐_𝐜`$ are 2.5 and 2.3 sigma below the Standard Model respectively. This is mainly because the $`𝓐_𝐛`$ value deduced from the measured $`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}^{\mathrm{𝟎}\mathbf{,}𝐛}`$ and the combined $`𝓐_{\mathbf{}}`$ is low compared to both the Standard Model and the direct measurement of $`𝓐_𝐛`$, this can also be seen in Figure 18.

### 12.3 The Effective Vector and Axial-Vector Coupling Constants

The partial widths of the $`𝐙`$ into leptons and the lepton forward-backward asymmetries (Section 2), the $`𝝉`$ polarisation and the $`𝝉`$ polarisation asymmetry (Section 3) are combined to determine the effective vector and axial-vector couplings for $`𝐞`$, $`𝝁`$ and $`𝝉`$. The asymmetries (Equations (3) and (6)) determine the ratio $`𝒈_𝑽\mathbf{}\mathbf{/}𝒈_𝑨\mathbf{}`$ (Equation (4)), while the leptonic partial widths determine the sum of the squares of the couplings:

$`𝚪_{\mathbf{}\mathbf{}}`$ $`\mathbf{=}`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{𝑮_𝐅𝒎_𝐙^\mathrm{𝟑}}{\mathrm{𝟔}𝝅\sqrt{\mathrm{𝟐}}}}\mathbf{(}𝒈_𝑽\mathbf{}^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{+}𝒈_𝑨\mathbf{}^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{)}\mathbf{(}\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{+}𝜹_{\mathbf{}}^{𝑸𝑬𝑫}\mathbf{)}\mathbf{,}`$ (33)
where $`𝜹_{\mathbf{}}^{𝑸𝑬𝑫}\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟑}𝒒_{\mathbf{}}^\mathrm{𝟐}𝜶\mathbf{(}𝒎_𝐙^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{)}\mathbf{/}\mathbf{(}\mathrm{𝟒}𝝅\mathbf{)}`$ accounts for final state photonic corrections. Corrections due to lepton masses, neglected in Equation 33, are taken into account for the results presented below.

The averaged results for the effective lepton couplings are given in Table 39 for both the LEP data alone as well as for the LEP and SLD measurements. Figure 19 shows the 68% probability contours in the $`𝒈_𝑨\mathbf{}`$-$`𝒈_𝑽\mathbf{}`$ plane for the individual lepton species from the LEP data. The signs of $`𝒈_𝑨\mathbf{}`$ and $`𝒈_𝑽\mathbf{}`$ are based on the convention $`𝒈_{𝑨𝐞}\mathbf{<}\mathrm{𝟎}`$. With this convention the signs of the couplings of all charged leptons follow from LEP data alone. For comparison, the $`𝒈_𝑽\mathbf{}`$-$`𝒈_𝑨\mathbf{}`$ relation following from the measurement of $`𝓐_{\mathbf{}}`$ from SLD is indicated as a band in the $`𝒈_𝑨\mathbf{}`$-$`𝒈_𝑽\mathbf{}`$-plane of Figure 19. The measured ratios of the $`𝐞`$, $`𝝁`$ and $`𝝉`$ couplings provide a test of lepton universality and are shown in Table 39. All values are consistent with lepton universality. The combined results assuming universality are also given in the table and are shown as a solid contour in Figure 19.

The neutrino couplings to the $`𝐙`$ can be derived from the measured value of the invisible width of the $`𝐙`$, $`𝚪_{\mathrm{𝐢𝐧𝐯}}`$ (see Table 4), attributing it exclusively to the decay into three identical neutrino generations ($`𝚪_{\mathrm{𝐢𝐧𝐯}}\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟑}𝚪_{𝝂𝝂}`$) and assuming $`𝒈_{𝑨𝝂}\mathbf{}𝒈_{𝑽𝝂}\mathbf{}𝒈_𝝂`$. The relative sign of $`𝒈_𝝂`$ is chosen to be in agreement with neutrino scattering data, resulting in $`𝒈_𝝂\mathbf{=}\mathbf{+}\mathbf{0.50068}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.00075}`$.

### 12.4 The Effective Electroweak Mixing Angle $`\mathrm{𝐬𝐢𝐧}^\mathrm{𝟐}𝜽_{\mathrm{𝐞𝐟𝐟}}^{\mathrm{𝐥𝐞𝐩𝐭}}`$

The asymmetry measurements from LEP and SLD can be combined into a single observable, the effective electroweak mixing angle, $`\mathrm{𝐬𝐢𝐧}^\mathrm{𝟐}𝜽_{\mathrm{𝐞𝐟𝐟}}^{\mathrm{𝐥𝐞𝐩𝐭}}`$, defined as:

$`\mathrm{𝐬𝐢𝐧}^\mathrm{𝟐}𝜽_{\mathrm{𝐞𝐟𝐟}}^{\mathrm{𝐥𝐞𝐩𝐭}}`$ $`\mathbf{}`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{𝟏}}{\mathrm{𝟒}}}\mathbf{\left(}\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{}{\displaystyle \frac{𝒈_𝑽\mathbf{}}{𝒈_𝑨\mathbf{}}}\mathbf{\right)}\mathbf{,}`$ (34)
without making strong model-specific assumptions.

For a combined average of $`\mathrm{𝐬𝐢𝐧}^\mathrm{𝟐}𝜽_{\mathrm{𝐞𝐟𝐟}}^{\mathrm{𝐥𝐞𝐩𝐭}}`$ from $`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}^{\mathrm{𝟎}\mathbf{,}\mathbf{}}`$, $`𝓐_𝝉`$ and $`𝓐_𝐞`$ only the assumption of lepton universality, already inherent in the definition of $`\mathrm{𝐬𝐢𝐧}^\mathrm{𝟐}𝜽_{\mathrm{𝐞𝐟𝐟}}^{\mathrm{𝐥𝐞𝐩𝐭}}`$, is needed. Also the value derived from the measurements of $`𝓐_{\mathbf{}}`$ from SLD is given. We can also include the hadronic forward-backward asymmetries if we assume the quark couplings to be given by the Standard Model. This is justified within the Standard Model as the hadronic asymmetries $`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}^{\mathrm{𝟎}\mathbf{,}𝐛}`$ and $`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}^{\mathrm{𝟎}\mathbf{,}𝐜}`$ have a reduced sensitivity to corrections particular to the quark vertex. The results of these determinations of $`\mathrm{𝐬𝐢𝐧}^\mathrm{𝟐}𝜽_{\mathrm{𝐞𝐟𝐟}}^{\mathrm{𝐥𝐞𝐩𝐭}}`$ and their combination are shown in Table 40 and in Figure 20. The combinations based on leptonic and hadronic results show a difference of 3.0 sigma, mainly caused by the two most precise measurements of $`\mathrm{𝐬𝐢𝐧}^\mathrm{𝟐}𝜽_{\mathrm{𝐞𝐟𝐟}}^{\mathrm{𝐥𝐞𝐩𝐭}}`$, $`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐋𝐑}}^\mathrm{𝟎}`$ (SLD) and $`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}^{\mathrm{𝟎}\mathbf{,}𝐛}`$ (LEP). This is the same effect as discussed in section 12.2 and shown in Figure 18.

### 12.5 Constraints on the Standard Model

The precise electroweak measurements performed at LEP and SLC and elsewhere can be used to check the validity of the Standard Model and, within its framework, to infer valuable information about its fundamental parameters. The accuracy of the measurements makes them sensitive to the mass of the top quark $`𝒎_𝐭`$, and to the mass of the Higgs boson $`𝒎_𝐇`$ through loop corrections. While the leading $`𝒎_𝐭`$ dependence is quadratic, the leading $`𝒎_𝐇`$ dependence is logarithmic. Therefore, the inferred constraints on $`𝒎_𝐇`$ are not very strong.

The LEP and SLD measurements used are summarised in Table 41 together with the results of the Standard Model fit. Also shown are the results of measurements of $`𝒎_𝐖`$ from UA2, CDF, and DØ101010See Reference 183 for a combination of these $`m_\mathrm{W}`$ measurements., measurements of the top quark mass by CDF and DØ111111 See Reference 186 for a combination of these $`m_\mathrm{t}`$ measurements., and measurements of the neutrino-nucleon neutral to charged current ratios from CCFR and NuTeV. Although these latter results are quoted in terms of $`\mathrm{𝐬𝐢𝐧}^\mathrm{𝟐}𝜽_𝑾\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{}𝒎_𝐖^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{/}𝒎_𝐙^\mathrm{𝟐}`$, radiative corrections result in small $`𝒎_𝐭`$ and $`𝒎_𝐇`$ dependences121212The formula used is $`\delta \mathrm{sin}^2\theta _W=0.00142\frac{m_\mathrm{t}^2(175\mathrm{G}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{V})^2}{(100\mathrm{G}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{V})^2}+0.00048\mathrm{ln}(\frac{m_\mathrm{H}}{150\mathrm{G}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{V}}).`$ See Reference 188 for details. that are included in the fit. In addition, the value of the electromagnetic coupling constant $`𝜶\mathbf{(}𝒎_𝐙^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{)}`$, which is used in the fits, is shown. An additional input parameter, not shown in the table, is the Fermi constant $`𝑮_𝑭`$, determined from the $`𝝁`$ lifetime, $`𝑮_𝑭\mathbf{=}\mathbf{(}\mathbf{1.16637}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.00001}\mathbf{)}\mathbf{\times }\mathrm{𝟏𝟎}^\mathbf{}\mathrm{𝟓}\mathrm{𝐆𝐞𝐕}^\mathbf{}\mathrm{𝟐}`$. The relative error of $`𝑮_𝑭`$ is comparable to that of $`𝒎_𝐙`$; both errors have negligible effects in the fit results.

Detailed studies of the theoretical uncertainties in the Standard Model predictions due to missing higher-order electroweak corrections and their interplay with QCD corrections have been carried out in the working group on ‘Precision calculations for the $`𝐙`$ resonance’. Theoretical uncertainties are evaluated by comparing different but, within our present knowledge, equivalent treatments of aspects such as resummation techniques, momentum transfer scales for vertex corrections and factorisation schemes. The effects of these theoretical uncertainties have been reduced by the inclusion of higher-order corrections in the electroweak libraries. The use of the new QCD corrections increases the value of $`𝜶_𝐬\mathbf{(}𝒎_𝐙^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{)}`$ by 0.001, as expected. The effects of missing higher-order QCD corrections on $`𝜶_𝐬\mathbf{(}𝒎_𝐙^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{)}`$ covers missing higher-order electroweak corrections and uncertainties in the interplay of electroweak and QCD corrections and is estimated to be about 0.002 . A discussion of theoretical uncertainties in the determination of $`𝜶_𝐬`$ can be found in References 192 and 196. For the moment, the determination of the size of remaining theoretical uncertainties is still under study. All theoretical errors discussed in this paragraph are neglected for the results presented in Table 42.

At present the impact of theoretical uncertainties on the determination of SM parameters from the precise electroweak measurements is small compared with the error due to the uncertainty in the value of $`𝜶\mathbf{(}𝒎_𝐙^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{)}`$. The uncertainty in $`𝜶\mathbf{(}𝒎_𝐙^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{)}`$ arises from the contribution of light quarks to the photon vacuum polarisation ($`𝚫𝜶_{\mathrm{𝐡𝐚𝐝}}^{\mathbf{(}\mathrm{𝟓}\mathbf{)}}\mathbf{(}𝒎_𝐙^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{)}`$):

$$𝜶\mathbf{(}𝒎_𝐙^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{)}\mathbf{=}\frac{𝜶\mathbf{(}\mathrm{𝟎}\mathbf{)}}{\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{}𝚫𝜶_{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{(}𝒎_𝐙^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{)}\mathbf{}𝚫𝜶_{\mathrm{𝐡𝐚𝐝}}^{\mathbf{(}\mathrm{𝟓}\mathbf{)}}\mathbf{(}𝒎_𝐙^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{)}\mathbf{}𝚫𝜶_{\mathrm{𝐭𝐨𝐩}}\mathbf{(}𝒎_𝐙^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{)}}\mathbf{.}$$
(35)
The top contribution depends on the mass of the top quark, and is therefore determined inside the electroweak libraries. The leptonic contribution is calculated to third order to be $`\mathbf{0.031498}`$. For the hadronic contribution, we use the value $`\mathbf{0.02804}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.00065}`$, which results in $`\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{/}𝜶^{\mathbf{(}\mathrm{𝟓}\mathbf{)}}\mathbf{(}𝒎_𝐙^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{)}\mathbf{=}\mathbf{128.878}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.090}`$. This uncertainty causes an error of 0.00023 on the Standard Model prediction of $`\mathrm{𝐬𝐢𝐧}^\mathrm{𝟐}𝜽_{\mathrm{𝐞𝐟𝐟}}^{\mathrm{𝐥𝐞𝐩𝐭}}`$, an error of 1 GeV on $`𝒎_𝐭`$, and 0.2 on $`\mathrm{𝐥𝐨𝐠}\mathbf{(}𝒎_𝐇\mathbf{)}`$, which are included in the results. The effect on the Standard Model prediction for $`𝚪_{\mathbf{}\mathbf{}}`$ is negligible. The $`𝜶_𝐬\mathbf{(}𝒎_𝐙^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{)}`$ values for the Standard Model fits presented in this Section are stable against a variation of $`𝜶\mathbf{(}𝒎_𝐙^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{)}`$ in the interval quoted.

At the ICHEP 2000 conference in Osaka, the BES collaboration reported on new preliminary measurements of the hadronic cross section in electron-positron collisions at 2 to 5 $`\mathrm{𝐆𝐞𝐕}`$ centre-of-mass energy . With these data, the hadronic vacuum polarisation is determined with improved precision: $`𝚫𝜶_{\mathrm{𝐡𝐚𝐝}}^{\mathbf{(}\mathrm{𝟓}\mathbf{)}}\mathbf{(}𝒎_𝐙^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{)}\mathbf{=}\mathbf{0.02755}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.00046}`$ . To show the effects of the uncertainty of $`𝜶\mathbf{(}𝒎_𝐙^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{)}`$, we also use this evaluation of the hadronic vacuum polarisation. There are also several evaluations of $`𝚫𝜶_{\mathrm{𝐡𝐚𝐝}}^{\mathbf{(}\mathrm{𝟓}\mathbf{)}}\mathbf{(}𝒎_𝐙^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{)}`$ which are more theory driven. The most recent of these (Reference 206) also includes the new preliminary results from BES. All these evaluations obtain values for $`𝚫𝜶_{\mathrm{𝐡𝐚𝐝}}^{\mathbf{(}\mathrm{𝟓}\mathbf{)}}\mathbf{(}𝒎_𝐙^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{)}`$ consistently lower than the old value of $`\mathbf{0.02804}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.00065}`$.

Figure 21 shows a comparison of the leptonic partial width from LEP (Table 4) and the effective electroweak mixing angle from asymmetries measured at LEP and SLD (Table 40), with the Standard Model. Good agreement with the Standard Model prediction is observed. The point with the arrow shows the prediction if among the electroweak radiative corrections only the photon vacuum polarisation is included, which shows an example of evidence that LEP+SLD data are sensitive to electroweak corrections. Note that the error due to the uncertainty on $`𝜶\mathbf{(}𝒎_𝐙^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{)}`$ (shown as the length of the arrow) is larger than the experimental error on $`\mathrm{𝐬𝐢𝐧}^\mathrm{𝟐}𝜽_{\mathrm{𝐞𝐟𝐟}}^{\mathrm{𝐥𝐞𝐩𝐭}}`$ from LEP and SLD. This underlines the growing importance of a precise measurement of $`𝝈\mathbf{(}𝐞^\mathbf{+}𝐞^{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{}\mathrm{𝐡𝐚𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐬}\mathbf{)}`$ at low centre-of-mass energies.

Of the measurements given in Table 41, $`𝑹_{\mathbf{}}`$ is one of the most sensitive to QCD corrections. For $`𝒎_𝐙\mathbf{=}\mathbf{91.1875}`$ GeV, and imposing $`𝒎_𝐭\mathbf{=}\mathbf{174.3}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{5.1}`$ GeV as a constraint, $`𝜶_𝐬\mathbf{=}\mathbf{0.123}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.004}`$ is obtained. Alternatively, $`𝝈_{\mathbf{}}^\mathrm{𝟎}`$ (see Table 4) which has higher sensitivity to QCD corrections and less dependence on $`𝒎_𝐇`$ yields : $`𝜶_𝐬\mathbf{=}\mathbf{0.118}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.003}`$. Typical errors arising from variation $`𝒎_𝐇`$ are of the order of $`\mathbf{0.001}`$, somewhat smaller for $`𝝈_{\mathbf{}}^\mathrm{𝟎}`$. These results are in very good agreement with the world average ($`𝜶_𝐬\mathbf{(}𝒎_𝐙^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{)}\mathbf{=}\mathbf{0.119}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.002}`$).

To test the agreement between the LEP data and the Standard Model, a fit to the data (including the LEP-II $`𝒎_𝐖`$ determination) leaving the top quark mass and the Higgs mass as free parameters is performed. The result is shown in Table 42, column 1. This fit shows that the LEP data prefer a light top quark and a light Higgs boson, albeit with very large errors. The strongly asymmetric errors on $`𝒎_𝐇`$ are due to the fact that to first order, the radiative corrections in the Standard Model are proportional to $`\mathrm{𝐥𝐨𝐠}\mathbf{(}𝒎_𝐇\mathbf{)}`$. The correlation between the top quark mass and the Higgs mass is 0.63 (see Figure 22).

The data can also be used within the Standard Model to determine the top quark and W masses indirectly, which can be compared to the direct measurements performed at the $`𝐩\overline{𝐩}`$ colliders and LEP. In the second fit, all the results in Table 41, except the LEP-II and $`𝐩\overline{𝐩}`$ colliders $`𝒎_𝐖`$ and $`𝒎_𝐭`$ results are used. The results are shown in column 2 of Table 42. The indirect measurements of $`𝒎_𝐖`$ and $`𝒎_𝐭`$ from this data sample are shown in Figure 23, compared with the direct measurements. Also shown is the Standard Model predictions for Higgs masses between 113 and 1000 GeV. As can be seen in the figure, the indirect and direct measurements of $`𝒎_𝐖`$ and $`𝒎_𝐭`$ are in good agreement, and both sets prefer a low Higgs mass.

For the third fit, the direct $`𝒎_𝐭`$ measurements is used to obtain the best indirect determination of $`𝒎_𝐖`$. The result is shown in column 3 of Table 42. Also here, the indirect determination of W boson mass $`\mathbf{80.386}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.025}`$ GeV is in excellent agreement with the combination of direct measurements from LEP and $`𝐩\overline{𝐩}`$ colliders  of $`𝒎_𝐖\mathbf{=}\mathbf{80.436}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.037}`$ GeV.

For the next fit, (column 4 of Table 42), the direct $`𝒎_𝐖`$ measurements from LEP and $`𝐩\overline{𝐩}`$ colliders are included to obtain $`𝒎_𝐭\mathbf{=}\mathbf{174.4}_{\mathbf{}\mathbf{6.7}}^{\mathbf{+}\mathbf{9.3}}`$ GeV, in good agreement with the direct measurement of $`𝒎_𝐭\mathbf{=}\mathbf{174.3}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{5.1}`$ GeV.

Finally, the best constraints on $`𝒎_𝐇`$ are obtained when all data are used in the fit. The results of this fit are shown in column 5 of Table 42 and in Figure 22. In Figures 24 and 25 the sensitivity of the LEP and SLD measurements to the Higgs mass is shown. As can be seen, the most sensitive measurements are the asymmetries. A reduced uncertainty for the value of $`𝜶\mathbf{(}𝒎_𝐙^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{)}`$ would therefore result in an improved constraint on $`𝒎_𝐇`$, as shown in Figures 21 and 26.

In Figure 26 the observed value of $`𝚫𝝌^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{}𝝌^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{}𝝌_{\mathrm{𝐦𝐢𝐧}}^\mathrm{𝟐}`$ as a function of $`𝒎_𝐇`$ is plotted for the fit including all data. The solid curve is the result using ZFITTER, and corresponds to the last column of Table 42. The shaded band represents the uncertainty due to uncalculated higher-order corrections, as estimated by ZFITTER and TOPAZ0. The 95% confidence level upper limit on $`𝒎_𝐇`$ (taking the band into account) is 165 GeV. The lower limit on $`𝒎_𝐇`$ of approximately 113 GeV obtained from direct searches has not been used in this limit determination. Also shown is the result (dashed curve) obtained when using $`𝜶^{\mathbf{(}\mathrm{𝟓}\mathbf{)}}\mathbf{(}𝒎_𝐙^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{)}`$ of Reference 198. The fit results in $`\mathrm{𝐥𝐨𝐠}\mathbf{(}𝒎_𝐇\mathbf{/}\mathrm{𝐆𝐞𝐕}\mathbf{)}\mathbf{=}\mathbf{1.94}_{\mathbf{}\mathbf{0.24}}^{\mathbf{+}\mathbf{0.22}}`$ corresponding to $`𝒎_𝐇\mathbf{=}\mathrm{𝟖𝟖}_{\mathbf{}\mathrm{𝟑𝟕}}^{\mathbf{+}\mathrm{𝟔𝟎}}`$ GeV and an upper limit on $`𝒎_𝐇`$ of approximately 206 GeV.

## 13 Prospects for the Future

Most of the measurements from data taken at or near the Z resonance, both at LEP as well as at SLC, that are presented in this report are either final or are being finalised. The major improvements will therefore take place in the high energy data. With more than 600 pb-1 per experiment, LEP-II will lead to substantially improved measurements of certain electroweak parameters. As a result, the measurements of $`𝒎_𝐖`$ are likely to match the error obtained via the radiative corrections of the $`𝐙`$ data, providing a further important test of the Standard Model. In the measurement of the WW$`𝜸`$ and WWZ triple-gauge-boson couplings the increase in LEP-II statistics, together with the increased sensitivity at higher beam energies, will lead to an improvement in the current precision.

## 14 Conclusions

The combination of the many precise electroweak results yields stringent constraints on the Standard Model. All measurements agree with the predictions. In addition, the results are sensitive to the Higgs mass.

The experiments wish to stress that this report reflects a preliminary status at the time of the 2000 summer conferences. A definitive statement on these results must wait for publication by each collaboration.

## Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the CERN accelerator divisions for the efficient operation of the LEP accelerator, the precise information on the absolute energy scale and their close cooperation with the four experiments. The SLD collaboration would like to thank the SLAC accelerator department for the efficient operation of the SLC accelerator. We would also like to thank members of the CDF, DØ and NuTeV Collaborations for making results available to us in advance of the conferences and for useful discussions concerning their combination. Finally, the results of the section on Standard Model constraints would not have been possible without the close collaboration of many theorists.

Appendix

## Appendix A Heavy-Flavour Fit including Off-Peak Asymmetries

The full 18 parameter fit to the LEP and SLD data gave the following results:

$`𝑹_𝐛^\mathrm{𝟎}`$ $`\mathbf{=}`$ $`\mathbf{0.21652}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.00069}`$
$`𝑹_𝐜^\mathrm{𝟎}`$ $`\mathbf{=}`$ $`\mathbf{0.1702}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.0034}`$
$`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}^{𝐛\overline{𝐛}}\mathbf{(}\mathbf{}\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{)}`$ $`\mathbf{=}`$ $`\mathbf{0.0572}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.0075}`$
$`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}^{𝐜\overline{𝐜}}\mathbf{(}\mathbf{}\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{)}`$ $`\mathbf{=}`$ $`\mathbf{}\mathbf{0.027}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.016}`$
$`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}^{𝐛\overline{𝐛}}\mathbf{(}\mathrm{𝐩𝐤}\mathbf{)}`$ $`\mathbf{=}`$ $`\mathbf{0.0973}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.0021}`$
$`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}^{𝐜\overline{𝐜}}\mathbf{(}\mathrm{𝐩𝐤}\mathbf{)}`$ $`\mathbf{=}`$ $`\mathbf{0.0621}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.0036}`$
$`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}^{𝐛\overline{𝐛}}\mathbf{(}\mathbf{+}\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{)}`$ $`\mathbf{=}`$ $`\mathbf{0.1106}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.0065}`$
$`𝑨_{\mathrm{𝐅𝐁}}^{𝐜\overline{𝐜}}\mathbf{(}\mathbf{+}\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{)}`$ $`\mathbf{=}`$ $`\mathbf{0.131}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.013}`$
$`𝓐_𝐛`$ $`\mathbf{=}`$ $`\mathbf{0.922}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.022}`$
$`𝓐_𝐜`$ $`\mathbf{=}`$ $`\mathbf{0.631}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.026}`$
$`\mathrm{𝐁𝐑}\mathbf{(}𝐛\mathbf{}\mathbf{}\mathbf{)}`$ $`\mathbf{=}`$ $`\mathbf{0.1056}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.0019}`$
$`\mathrm{𝐁𝐑}\mathbf{(}𝐛\mathbf{}𝐜\mathbf{}\overline{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{)}`$ $`\mathbf{=}`$ $`\mathbf{0.0801}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.0026}`$
$`\mathrm{𝐁𝐑}\mathbf{(}𝐜\mathbf{}\mathbf{}\mathbf{)}`$ $`\mathbf{=}`$ $`\mathbf{0.0984}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.0032}`$
$`\overline{𝝌}`$ $`\mathbf{=}`$ $`\mathbf{0.1194}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.0043}`$
$`𝒇\mathbf{(}𝐃^\mathbf{+}\mathbf{)}`$ $`\mathbf{=}`$ $`\mathbf{0.237}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.016}`$
$`𝒇\mathbf{(}𝐃_𝐬\mathbf{)}`$ $`\mathbf{=}`$ $`\mathbf{0.121}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.025}`$
$`𝒇\mathbf{(}𝐜_{\mathrm{𝐛𝐚𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧}}\mathbf{)}`$ $`\mathbf{=}`$ $`\mathbf{0.090}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.022}`$
$`𝐏\mathbf{(}𝐜\mathbf{}𝐃^\mathbf{}\mathbf{+}\mathbf{)}\mathbf{\times }\mathrm{𝐁𝐑}\mathbf{(}𝐃^\mathbf{}\mathbf{+}\mathbf{}𝝅^\mathbf{+}𝐃^\mathrm{𝟎}\mathbf{)}`$ $`\mathbf{=}`$ $`\mathbf{0.1631}\mathbf{\pm }\mathbf{0.0050}`$
with a $`𝝌^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathbf{/}`$d.o.f. of $`\mathrm{𝟓𝟐}\mathbf{/}\mathbf{(}\mathrm{𝟗𝟖}\mathbf{}\mathrm{𝟏𝟖}\mathbf{)}`$. The corresponding correlation matrix is given in Table 43. The energy for the peak$`\mathbf{}`$2, peak and peak+2 results are respectively 89.55 GeV, 91.26 GeV and 92.94 GeV. Note that the asymmetry results shown here are not the pole asymmetries shown in Section 5.2.2. The non-electroweak parameters do not depend on the treatment of the asymmetries.

## The Measurements used in the Heavy Flavour Averages

In the following 20 tables the results used in the combination are listed. In each case an indication of the dataset used and the type of analysis is given. Preliminary results are indicated by the symbol “†”. The values of centre-of-mass energy are given where relevant. In each table, the result used as input to the average procedure is given followed by the statistical error, the correlated and uncorrelated systematic errors, the total systematic error, and any dependence on other electroweak parameters. In the case of the asymmetries, the measurement moved to a common energy (89.55 GeV, 91.26 GeV and 92.94 GeV, respectively, for peak$`\mathbf{}`$2, peak and peak+2 results) is quoted as corrected asymmetry.

Contributions to the correlated systematic error quoted here are from any sources of error shared with one or more other results from different experiments in the same table, and the uncorrelated errors from the remaining sources. In the case of $`𝓐_𝐜`$ and $`𝓐_𝐛`$ from SLD the quoted correlated systematic error has contributions from any source shared with one or more other measurements from LEP experiments. Constants such as $`𝒂\mathbf{(}𝒙\mathbf{)}`$ denote the dependence on the assumed value of $`𝒙^{\mathrm{𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝}}`$, which is also given.

## Appendix B The Measurements used in the Electroweak Gauge Boson Couplings

In the following, results from individual experiments used in the electroweak gauge boson couplings averages are summarised.

### Charged Triple Gauge Boson Couplings

Results from each experiment are shown in Tables 64, 65 and 66 for the single, two and three-parameter analyses respectively. Uncertainties include both statistical and systematic effects.

### Neutral Triple Gauge Boson Couplings in Z$`𝜸`$ Production

Results from each experiment are shown in Tables 67 and 68 for the single and two-parameter analyses respectively. Uncertainties include both statistical and systematic effects.

### Neutral Triple Gauge Boson Couplings in ZZ Production

Results from each experiment are shown in Tables 69 and 70 for the single and two-parameter analyses respectively. Uncertainties include both statistical and systematic effects.

### Quartic Gauge Boson Couplings

Results from each experiment are shown in Table 71, where the uncertainties include both statistical and systematic effects.