Charm and bottom production in two photon collisions at LEP with the L3 detector

Inclusive c and b quark production in gamma gamma collisions are studied with the L3 detector at the LEP collider. Data were collected at centre of mass energies from 189 GeV to 202 GeV for a total integrated luminosity of 410 pb/sup -1/. Hadronic final states containing c and b quarks are identified by detecting electrons or muons from their semileptonic decays. The cross section sigma ( gamma gamma to ccX) is measured as a function of the two photon centre of mass energy in the interval 5 GeV<or=W/sub gamma gamma /<or=70 GeV. A steeper rise with energy is observed for sigma ( gamma gamma to ccX) as compared to hadron-hadron cross sections and to sigma ( gamma gamma to hadrons). The cross section sigma ( gamma gamma to bbX) is measured for the first time. This cross section is compared to perturbative next to leading order QCD calculations. lnclusive production of D/sup *+or-/ mesons in two photon collisions is measured using the data collected at the centre of mass energy square root s=189 GeV with an integrated luminosity of 176.4 pb/sup -1/. Differential cross sections of the process e/sup +/e/sup -/ to e/sup +/e/sup -/D/sup *+or-/X are determined as functions of the transverse momentum and pseudorapidity of the D/sup */+or- mesons in the kinematic region 1 GeV<p/sub T//sup D*/<5 GeV and $\beta /sup D* /$<1.4. (15 refs).