Event-shape variables, which are sensitive to perturbative and nonperturbative aspects of quantum chromodynamic (QCD) interactions, are studied in multijet events recorded in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV. Events are selected with at least one jet with transverse momentum pt > 110 GeV and pseudorapidity abs(eta) < 2.4, in a data sample corresponding to integrated luminosities of up to 5 inverse femtobarns. The distributions of five event-shape variables in various leading jet pt ranges are compared to predictions from different QCD Monte Carlo event generators.
This paper presents distributions of topological observables in inclusive three- and four-jet events produced in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV with a data sample collected by the CMS experiment corresponding to a luminosity of 5.1 inverse femtobarns. The distributions are corrected for detector effects, and compared with several event generators based on two- and multi-parton matrix elements at leading order. Among the considered calculations, MADGRAPH interfaced with PYTHIA6 displays the best overall agreement with data.