Production of D* mesons in photon-photon collisions at √see=183 GeV and 189 GeV using the OPAL detector at LEP

The inclusive production of D*+/- mesons in photon-photon collisions has been measured using the OPAL detector at LEP at e(+)e(-) centre-of-mass energies root s(ee) of 183 and 189 GeV. The D*+/- mesons are reconstructed in their decay to D(0)pi(+) with the D-0 observed in the two decay modes K(-)pi(+) and K(-)pi(+)pi(-)pi(+). After background subtraction, 121 +/- 14 (stat.) D*+/- events have been selected. Jets are reconstructed using a cone jet finding algorithm to separate direct and single-resolved events. Differential cross-sections d sigma/dp(T)(D*) and d sigma/d\eta(D*)\ as functions of the D*+/- transverse momentum p(T)(D*) and pseudorapidity eta(D*) are presented in the kinematic region 2 < p(T)(D*) < 12 GeV and \eta(D*)\ < 1.5, They are compared to next-to-leading order (NLO) perturbative QCD calculations. The total cross-section for the process e(+)e(-) --> e(+)e(-)c (c) over bar in the anti-tagged mode is measured to be sigma(e(+)e(-) --> e(+)e(-)c (c) over bar) = (945 +/- 239) pb with a direct contribution of sigma(e(+)e(-) --> e(+)e(-)c (c) over bar)(dir) = (392 +/- 117) pb and a single-resolved contribution of sigma(e(+)e(-) --> e(+)e(-)c (c) over bar)(res) = (553 +/- 184) pb.