A measurement of photon radiation in lepton pair events from Z0 decays

Abstract

We have measured the photon yield in lepton pair events recorded by the OPAL detector in a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 7.1 pb−1 at centre-of-mass energies between 88 GeV and 94 GeV. The results are compared to QED expectations for initial and final state photon radiation. No anomalous photon yield has been found, and stringent limits on the branching ratio for exotic radiative three body Z0 decays into a photon and a pair of leptons are obtained. We also place limits on possible Z0 decays into a photon and a resonance X with subsequent decays of X into a pair of leptons. Acollinear μ+μ− events with missing momentum along the beam direction are identified as events with hard initial state photon radiation and used to measure an average cross section of 15 ±86 pb for e+e− annihilation into μ+μ−, in the so far untested range of centre-of-mass energies between 60 GeV and 84 GeV. This value is consistent with a cross section of 24 pb, expected from Z0 and photon exchange.