The NA44 collaboration has measured charged kaon and pion distributions at midrapidity in sulphur and proton collisions with nuclear targets at 200 and 450 GeV/c per nucleon, respectively. The inverse slopes of kaons are larger than those of pions. The difference in the inverse slopes of pions, kaons and protons, all measured in our spectrometer, increases with system size and is consistent with the buildup of collective flow for larger systems. The target dependence of both the yields and inverse slopes is stronger for the sulphur beam suggesting the increased importance of secondary rescattering for SA reactions. The rapidity density, dN/dy, of both K+ and K- increases more rapidly with system size than for pi+ in a similar rapidity region. This trend continues with increasing centrality, and according to RQMD, it is caused by secondary reactions between mesons and baryons. The K-/K+ ratio falls with increasing system size but more slowly than the pbar/p ratio. The pi-/pi+ ratio is close to unity for all systems. From pBe to SPb the K+/p ratio decreases while K-/pbar increases and ({K+*K-}/{p*pbar})**1/2 stays constant. These data suggest that as larger nuclei collide, the resulting system has a larger transverse expansion, baryon density and an increasing fraction of strange quarks.

Single particle distributions of π ± , K ± , p , p and d near mid-rapidity from 450 GeV/c p A and 200 GeV/c per nucleon SA collisions are presented. Inverse slope parameters are extracted from the transverse mass spectra, and examined for indications of collective phenomena. Proton and antiproton yields are determined for different projectile-target combinations. First results from 160 GeV/c per nucleon PbPb collisions are presented.

We report the first measurement of the differential cross section for the process gamma gamma --> eta eta in the kinematic range above the eta eta threshold, 1.096 GeV < W < 3.8 GeV over nearly the entire solid angle range, |cos theta*| <= 0.9 or <= 1.0 depending on W, where W and theta* are the energy and eta scattering angle, respectively, in the gamma gamma center-of-mass system. The results are based on a 393 fb^{-1} data sample collected with the Belle detector at the KEKB e^+ e^- collider. In the W range 1.1-2.0 GeV/c^2 we perform an analysis of resonance amplitudes for various partial waves, and at higher energy we compare the energy and the angular dependences of the cross section with predictions of theoretical models and extract contributions of the chi_{cJ} charmonia.

We report a high-statistics measurement of the differential cross section of the process gamma gamma --> K^0_S K^0_S in the range 1.05 GeV <= W <= 4.00 GeV, where W is the center-of-mass energy of the colliding photons, using 972 fb^{-1} of data collected with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy e^+ e^- collider operated at and near the Upsilon-resonance region. The differential cross section is fitted by parameterized S-, D_0-, D_2-, G_0- and G_2-wave amplitudes. In the D_2 wave, the f_2(1270), a_2(1320) and f_2'(1525) are dominant and a resonance, the f_2(2200), is also present. The f_0(1710) and possibly the f_0(2500) are seen in the S wave. The mass, total width and product of the two-photon partial decay width and decay branching fraction to the K bar{K} state Gamma_{gamma gamma}B(K bar{K}) are extracted for the f_2'(1525), f_0(1710), f_2(2200) and f_0(2500). The destructive interference between the f_2(1270) and a_2(1320) is confirmed by measuring their relative phase. The parameters of the charmonium states chi_{c0} and chi_{c2} are updated. Possible contributions from the chi_{c0}(2P) and chi_{c2}(2P) states are discussed. A new upper limit for the branching fraction of the P- and CP-violating decay channel eta_c --> K^0_S K^0_S is reported. The detailed behavior of the cross section is updated and compared with QCD-based calculations.

We report a measurement of the differential cross section of $\pi^0$ pair production in single-tag two-photon collisions, $\gamma^* \gamma \to \pi^0 \pi^0$, in $e^+ e^-$ scattering. The cross section is measured for $Q^2$ up to 30 GeV$^2$, where $Q^2$ is the negative of the invariant mass squared of the tagged photon, in the kinematic range 0.5 GeV < W < 2.1 GeV and $|\cos \theta^*|$ < 1.0 for the total energy and pion scattering angle, respectively, in the $\gamma^* \gamma$ center-of-mass system. The results are based on a data sample of 759 fb$^{-1}$ collected with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy $e^+ e^-$ collider. The transition form factor of the $f_0(980)$ and that of the $f_2(1270)$ with the helicity-0, -1, and -2 components separately are measured for the first time and are compared with theoretical calculations.

We report a high-statistics measurement of differential cross sections for the process gamma gamma -> pi^0 pi^0 in the kinematic range 0.6 GeV <= W <= 4.0 GeV and |cos theta*| <= 0.8, where W and theta* are the energy and pion scattering angle, respectively, in the gamma gamma center-of-mass system. Differential cross sections are fitted to obtain information on S, D_0, D_2, G_0 and G_2 waves. The G waves are important above W ~= 1.6 GeV. For W <= 1.6 GeV the D_2 wave is dominated by the f_2(1270) resonance while the S wave requires at least one additional resonance besides the f_0(980), which may be the f_0(1370) or f_0(1500). The differential cross sections are fitted with a simple parameterization to determine the parameters (the mass, total width and Gamma_{gamma gamma}B(f_0 -> pi^0 pi^0)) of this scalar meson as well as the f_0(980). The helicity 0 fraction of the f_2(1270) meson, taking into account interference for the first time, is also obtained.

The differential cross section for the process $\gamma \gamma \to \eta \pi^0$ has been measured in the kinematic range $0.84 \GeV < W < 4.0 \GeV$, $|\cos \theta^*|<0.8$, where $W$ and $\theta^*$ are the energy and $\pi^0$ (or $\eta$) scattering angle, respectively, in the $\gamma\gamma$ center-of-mass system. The results are based on a 223 fb$^{-1}$ data sample collected with the Belle detector at the KEKB $e^+ e^-$ collider. Clear peaks due to the $a_0(980)$ and $a_2(1320)$ are visible. The differential cross sections are fitted in the energy region $0.9 \GeV < W < 1.46 \GeV$ to obtain the parameters of the $a_0(980)$. Its mass, width and $\Gamma_{\gamma \gamma} \B (\eta \pi^0)$ are measured to be $982.3 ^{+0.6}_{-0.7} ^{+3.1}_{-4.7} \MeV/c^2$, $75.6 \pm 1.6 ^{+17.4}_{-10.0} \MeV$ and $128 ^{+3}_{-2} ^{+502}_{-43} \eV$, respectively. The energy and angular dependences above 3.1 GeV are compared with those measured in the $\pi^0 \pi^0$ channel. The integrated cross section over $|\cos \theta^*|<0.8$ has a $W^{-n}$ dependence with $n = 10.5 \pm 1.2 \pm 0.5$, which is slightly larger than that for $\pi^0 \pi^0$. The differential cross sections show a $\sin^{-4} \theta^*$ dependence similar to $\gamma \gamma \to \pi^0 \pi^0$. The measured cross section ratio, $\sigma(\eta \pi^0)/\sigma(\pi^0 \pi^0) = 0.48 \pm 0.05 \pm 0.04$, is consistent with a QCD-based prediction.

We have studied open charm production in $\gamma \gamma$ collisions with the TOPAZ detector at the TRISTAN $e~{+}e~{-}$ collider. In this study, charm quarks were identified by electrons (and positrons) from semi-leptonic decays of charmed hadrons. The data corresponded to an integrated luminosity of 95.3 pb$~{-1}$ at a center-of-mass energy of 58 GeV. The results are presented as the cross sections of inclusive electron production in $\gamma \gamma$ collisions with an anti-tag condition, as well as the subprocess cross sections, which correspond to resolved-photon processes. The latter were measured by using a sub-sample with remnant jets. A comparison with various theoretical predictions based on direct and resolved-photon processes showed that our data prefer that with relatively large gluon contents in a photon at small $x (x \le 0.1)$, with the next-to-leading order correction, and with a charm-quark mass of 1.3 GeV.

Azimuthal angle (Delta phi) correlations are presented for a broad range of transverse momentum (0.4 < pT < 10 GeV/c) and centrality (0-92%) selections for charged hadrons from di-jets in Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV. With increasing pT, the away-side Delta phi distribution evolves from a broad and relatively flat shape to a concave shape, then to a convex shape. Comparisons to p+p data suggest that the away-side distribution can be divided into a partially suppressed head region centered at Delta phi ~ \pi, and an enhanced shoulder region centered at Delta phi ~ \pi \pm 1:1. The pT spectrum for the associated hadrons in the head region softens toward central collisions. The spectral slope for the shoulder region is independent of centrality and trigger pT . The properties of the near-side distributions are also modified relative to those in p + p collisions, reflected by the broadening of the jet shape in Delta phi and Delta eta, and an enhancement of the per-trigger yield. However, these modifications seem to be limited to pT < 4 GeV/c, above which both the dihadron pair shape and per-trigger yield become similar to p + p collisions. These observations suggest that both the away- and near-side distributions contain a jet fragmentation component which dominates for pT \ge 5GeV and a medium-induced component which is important for pT \le 4 GeV/c. We also quantify the role of jets at intermediate and low pT through the yield of jet-induced pairs in comparison to binary scaled p + p pair yield. The yield of jet-induced pairs is suppressed at high pair proxy energy (sum of the pT magnitudes of the two hadrons) and is enhanced at low pair proxy energy. The former is consistent with jet quenching/ the latter is consistent with the enhancement of soft hadron pairs due to transport of lost energy to lower pT.

The shape of jets produced in (quasi-) real photon-photon collisions as well as in e^+e^- annihilation process has been studied with a cone jet finding algorithm, using the data taken with the TOPAZ detector at the TRISTAN e^+e^- collider at an average center-of-mass energy of 58 GeV. The results are presented in terms of the jet width as a function of the jet transverse energy(E^{jet}_T) as well as a scaled transverse jet energy, x_T(=2E^{jet}_T/root(s)). The jet width narrows as E^{jet}_T increases; however, at the same value of E^{jet}_T the jet width in gamma-gamma collisions at TRISTAN is significantly narrower than that in gamma p collisions at HERA. By comparing our results with the data in other reactions, it has been shown that the jet width in gamma-gamma, gamma p, p\bar{p} collisions as well as the e^+e^- annihilation process has an approximate scaling behavior as a function of x_T.