Three- and four-jet production is measured in deep-inelastic $ep$ scattering at low $x$ and $Q^2$ with the H1 detector using an integrated luminosity of $44{.}2 {\rm pb}^{-1}$. Several phase space regions are selected for the three-jet analysis in order to study the underlying parton dynamics from global topologies to the more restrictive regions of forward jets close to the proton direction. The measurements of cross sections for events with at least three jets are compared to fixed order QCD predictions of ${\mathcal{O}}(\alpha_{\rm s}^2)$ and ${\mathcal{O}}(\alpha_{\rm s}^3) $ and with Monte Carlo simulation programs where higher order effects are approximated by parton showers. A good overall description is provided by the ${\mathcal{O}}(\alpha_{\rm s}^3) $ calculation. Too few events are predicted at the lowest $x \sim 10^{-4}$, especially for topologies with two forward jets. This hints to large contributions at low $x$ from initial state radiation of gluons close to the proton direction and unordered in transverse momentum. The Monte Carlo program in which gluon radiation is generated by the colour dipole model gives a good description of both the three- and the four-jet data in absolute normalisation and shape.

Measurements are reported of the production of dijet events with a leading neutron in ep interactions at HERA. Differential cross sections for photoproduction and deep inelastic scattering are presented as a function of several kinematic variables. Leading order QCD simulation programs are compared with the measurements. Models in which the real or virtual photon interacts with a parton of an exchanged pion are able to describe the data. Next-to-leading order perturbative QCD calculations based on pion exchange are found to be in good agreement with the measured cross sections. The fraction of leading neutron dijet events with respect to all dijet events is also determined. The dijet events with a leading neutron have a lower fraction of resolved photon processes than do the inclusive dijet data.

Deep-inelastic ep scattering data taken with the H1 detector at HERA and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 106 pb^{-1} are used to study the differential distributions of event shape variables. These include thrust, jet broadening, jet mass and the C-parameter. The four-momentum transfer Q is taken to be the relevant energy scale and ranges between 14 GeV and 200 GeV. The event shape distributions are compared with perturbative QCD predictions, which include resummed contributions and analytical power law corrections, the latter accounting for non-perturbative hadronisation effects. The data clearly exhibit the running of the strong coupling alpha_s(Q) and are consistent with a universal power correction parameter alpha_0 for all event shape variables. A combined QCD fit using all event shape variables yields alpha_s(mZ) = 0.1198 \pm 0.0013 ^{+0.0056}_{-0.0043} and alpha_0 = 0.476 \pm 0.008 ^{+0.018} _{-0.059}.

A measurement of charm and beauty dijet photoproduction cross sections at the ep collider HERA is presented. Events are selected with two or more jets of transverse momentum $p_t^{jet}_{1(2)}>11(8)$ GeV in the central range of pseudo-rapidity $-0.9<\eta^{jet}_{1(2)}<1.3$. The fractions of events containing charm and beauty quarks are determined using a method based on the impact parameter, in the transverse plane, of tracks to the primary vertex, as measured by the H1 central vertex detector. Differential dijet cross sections for charm and beauty, and their relative contributions to the flavour inclusive dijet photoproduction cross section, are measured as a function of the transverse momentum of the leading jet, the average pseudo-rapidity of the two jets and the observable $x_{\gamma}^{obs}$. Taking into account the theoretical uncertainties, the charm cross sections are consistent with a QCD calculation in next-to-leading order, while the predicted cross sections for beauty production are somewhat lower than the measurement.

The cross section for the diffractive deep-inelastic scattering process $ep \to e X p$ is measured, with the leading final state proton detected in the H1 Forward Proton Spectrometer. The data analysed cover the range \xpom &lt;0.1 in fractional proton longitudinal momentum loss, 0.08 &lt; |t| &lt; 0.5 GeV^{-2} in squared four-momentum transfer at the proton vertex, 2 &lt; Q^2 &lt; 50 GeV^2 in photon virtuality and 0.004 &lt; \beta = x / \xpom &lt; 1, where x is the Bjorken scaling variable. For $\xpom \lapprox 10^{-2}$, the differential cross section has a dependence of approximately ${\rm d} \sigma / {\rm d} t \propto e^{6 t}$, independently of \xpom, \beta and Q^2 within uncertainties. The cross section is also measured triple differentially in \xpom, \beta and Q^2. The \xpom dependence is interpreted in terms of an effective pomeron trajectory with intercept $\alpha_{\pom}(0)=1.114 \pm 0.018 ({\rm stat.}) \pm 0.012 ({\rm syst.}) ^{+0.040}_{-0.020} ({\rm model})$ and a sub-leading exchange. The data are in good agreement with an H1 measurement for which the event selection is based on a large gap in the rapidity distribution of the final state hadrons, after accounting for proton dissociation contributions in the latter. Within uncertainties, the dependence of the cross section on x and Q^2 can thus be factorised from the dependences on all studied variables which characterise the proton vertex, for both the pomeron and the sub-leading exchange.

Inclusive D* production is measured in deep-inelastic ep scattering at HERA with the H1 detector. In addition, the production of dijets in events with a D* meson is investigated. The analysis covers values of photon virtuality 2< Q^2 <=100 GeV^2 and of inelasticity 0.05<= y <= 0.7. Differential cross sections are measured as a function of Q^2 and x and of various D* meson and jet observables. Within the experimental and theoretical uncertainties all measured cross sections are found to be adequately described by next-to-leading order (NLO) QCD calculations, based on the photon-gluon fusion process and DGLAP evolution, without the need for an additional resolved component of the photon beyond what is included at NLO. A reasonable description of the data is also achieved by a prediction based on the CCFM evolution of partons involving the k_T-unintegrated gluon distribution of the proton.

Three- and four-jet final states have been measured in photoproduction at HERA using the ZEUS detector with an integrated luminosity of 121 pb^-1. The results are presented for jets with transverse energy E_T^jet>6 GeV and pseudorapidity |eta^jet|<2.4, in the kinematic region given by the virtuality of the photon Q^2<1 GeV^2 and the inelasticity 0.2<y<0.85 and in two mass regions defined as 25<M_nj<50 GeV and M_nj>50 GeV, where M_nj is the invariant mass of the n-jet system. The four-jet photoproduction cross section has been measured for the first time and represents the highest-order process studied at HERA. Both the three- and four-jet cross sections have been compared with leading-logarithmic parton-shower Monte Carlo models, with and without multi-parton interactions. The three-jet cross sections have been compared to an order(alpha alpha_s^2) perturbative QCD calculation.

Dijet production by almost real photons has been studied at HERA with the ZEUS detector. Jets have been identified using the cone algorithm. A cut on xg, the fraction of the photon energy participating in the production of the two jets of highest transverse energy, is used to define cross sections sensitive to the parton distributions in the proton and in the photon. The dependence of the dijet cross sections on pseudorapidity has been measured for xg $\ge 0.75$ and xg $< 0.75$. The former is sensitive to the gluon momentum density in the proton. The latter is sensitive to the gluon in the photon. The cross sections are corrected for detector acceptance and compared to leading order QCD calculations.

Charm production in deep inelastic scattering has been measured with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 82 pb^{-1}. Charm has been tagged by reconstructing D^{*+}, D^0, D^{+} and D_s^+ (+ c.c.) charm mesons. The charm hadrons were measured in the kinematic range p_T(D^{*+},D^0,D^{+}) > 3 GeV, p_T(D_s^+)>2 GeV and |\eta(D)| < 1.6 for 1.5 < Q^2 < 1000 GeV^2 and 0.02 < y < 0.7. The production cross sections were used to extract charm fragmentation ratios and the fraction of c quarks hadronising into a particular charm meson in the kinematic range considered. The cross sections were compared to the predictions of next-to-leading-order QCD, and extrapolated to the full kinematic region in p_T(D) and \eta(D) in order to determine the open-charm contribution, F_2^{c\bar{c}}(x,Q^2), to the proton structure function F_2.

The production of energetic neutrons in $ep$ collisions has been studied with the ZEUS detector at HERA. The neutron energy and $p_T^2$ distributions were measured with a forward neutron calorimeter and tracker in a $40 \pb^{-1}$ sample of inclusive deep inelastic scattering (DIS) data and a $6 \pb^{-1}$ sample of photoproduction data. The neutron yield in photoproduction is suppressed relative to DIS for the lower neutron energies and the neutrons have a steeper $p_T^2$ distribution, consistent with the expectation from absorption models. The distributions are compared to HERA measurements of leading protons. The neutron energy and transverse-momentum distributions in DIS are compared to Monte Carlo simulations and to the predictions of particle exchange models. Models of pion exchange incorporating absorption and additional secondary meson exchanges give a good description of the data.