Cross section and di-fermionic asymmetry measurements by ALEPH detector at LEP2 - Interpretations beyond Standard Model

The present work is based on the selection of e^-e⁺ → f f-bar events taken with the ALEPH detector from 1995 to 1998, for an integrated luminosity of 500 pb^-. We first present the selection of dimuon, di-tau and di-electron events that we have been developed for this study. The hadronic selection used in ALEPH is also detailed in a devoted part. In each case, the estimation of systematic uncertainties is described. They are of the same order of magnitude as the statistical errors, ranging between 0.6% (di-electron) and 3.5% (dimuon). From these selections we derive the di-fermionic cross-sections as well as the asymmetries computed for the di-lepton channels. Measurements are found to be in reasonable agreement with the Standard Model expectations. Cross-sections and asymmetries are sensitive to the presence of possible new physics. In this document we use the context of the 4-fermion contact interactions to set limits on the energy scale of new physics. Such limits are found to range between 7 and 15 GeV depending on the modelling used. We also put lower limits on the mass of leptoquarks, 590 GeV/c² for vector leptoquarks and 71 GeV/c² for scalar leptoquarks. Eventually we also present the limits derived in the context of R-parity violated supersymmetry, putting constraint on the s-neutrino mass. Our study excludes such particles below a few hundred GeV/c² mass for high values of their Yukawa coupling assumptions. (author)