e+e- annihilation at high energies

The experimental physics programme of PEP and PETRA is presented. The data from 11 independent experiments are collated and compared with theory. The review starts with a brief history of e+e- interactions and then gives brief technical details of the two accelerators and the 11 experimental detectors. The physics of hadron production is considered and the production yield per event of hadrons detected is given. The confrontation of the measurements of hadron production with quantum chromodynamic (QCD) theory is considered together with the status of the understanding of fragmentation. A chapter is devoted to the electroweak interaction and results are presented from an analysis combining the data from the various experiments on lepton and quark pair production. Some aspects of heavy flavour physics are described using measurements on the decays of τ leptons and the c and b quarks. In the case of the τ the most accurate determination to date of the Fermi constant, derived from τ decay is given, together with the first ever result on the value of g-2 for the τ. The most stringent limits obtained so far are presented on the mass of the τ neutrino, and on the number of neutrino generations, obtained by combining the results from several experiments. A summary of the searches for new particles is given and the review ends with a look at the new e+e- accelerators now coming into operation and the prospects for continuing developments into the next century. (author)