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.

A measurement of the beauty production cross section in ep collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 319 GeV is presented. The data were collected with the H1 detector at the HERA collider in the years 1999-2000. Events are selected by requiring the presence of jets and muons in the final state. Both the long lifetime and the large mass of b-flavoured hadrons are exploited to identify events containing beauty quarks. Differential cross sections are measured in photoproduction, with photon virtualities Q^2 < 1 GeV^2, and in deep inelastic scattering, where 2 < Q^2 < 100 GeV^2. The results are compared with perturbative QCD calculations to leading and next-to-leading order. The predictions are found to be somewhat lower than the data.

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.

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.

Inclusive dijet and trijet production in deep inelastic $ep$ scattering has been measured for $10&lt;Q^2&lt;100$ GeV$^2$ and low Bjorken $x$, $10^{-4}&lt;x_{\rm Bj}&lt;10^{-2}$. The data were taken at the HERA $ep$ collider with centre-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s} = 318 \gev$ using the ZEUS detector and correspond to an integrated luminosity of $82 {\rm pb}^{-1}$. Jets were identified in the hadronic centre-of-mass (HCM) frame using the $k_{T}$ cluster algorithm in the longitudinally invariant inclusive mode. Measurements of dijet and trijet differential cross sections are presented as functions of $Q^2$, $x_{\rm Bj}$, jet transverse energy, and jet pseudorapidity. As a further examination of low-$x_{\rm Bj}$ dynamics, multi-differential cross sections as functions of the jet correlations in transverse momenta, azimuthal angles, and pseudorapidity are also presented. Calculations at $\mathcal{O}(\alpha_{s}^3)$ generally describe the trijet data well and improve the description of the dijet data compared to the calculation at $\mathcal{O}(\alpha_{s}^2)$.

Jet substructure and differential cross sections for jets produced in the photoproduction and deep inelastic ep scattering regimes have been measured with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 82.2 pb-1. The substructure of jets has been studied in terms of the jet shape and subjet multiplicity for jets with transverse energies Et(jet) > 17 GeV. The data are well described by the QCD calculations. The jet shape and subjet multiplicity are used to tag gluon- and quark-initiated jets. Jet cross sections as functions of Et(jet), jet pseudorapidity, the jet-jet scattering angle, dijet invariant mass and the fraction of the photon energy carried by the dijet system are presented for gluon- and quark-tagged jets. The data exhibit the behaviour expected from the underlying parton dynamics. A value of alphas(Mz) of alphas(Mz) = 0.1176 +-0.0009(stat.) -0.0026 +0.0009 (exp.) -0.0072 +0.0091 (th.) was extracted from the measurements of jet shapes in deep inelastic scattering.

We have studied hadronic events produced at LEP at a centre-of-mass energy of 161 GeV. We present distributions of event shape variables, jet rates, charged particle momentum spectra and multiplicities. We determine the strong coupling strength to be αs(161 GeV) = 0.101±0.005(stat.)±0.007(syst.), the mean charged particle multiplicity to be 〈nch〉(161 GeV) = 24.46 ± 0.45(stat.) ± 0.44(syst.) and the position of the peak in the ξp = ln(1/xp) distribution to be ξ0(161 GeV) = 4.00 ±0.03(stat.)±0.04(syst.). These results are compared to data taken at lower centre-of-mass energies and to analytic QCD or Monte Carlo predictions. Our measured value of αs(161 GeV) is consistent with other measurements of αs. Within the current statistical and systematic uncertainties, the PYTHIA, HERWIG and ARIADNE QCD Monte Carlo models and analytic calculations are in overall agreement with our measurements. The COJETS QCD Monte Carlo is in general agreement with the data for momentum weighted distributions like Thrust, but predicts a significantly larger charged particle multiplicity than is observed experimentally.

We have studied hadronic events produced at LEP at centre-of-mass energies of 130 and 136 GeV. Distributions of event shape observables, jet rates, momentum spectra and multiplicities are presented and compared to the predictions of several Monte Carlo models and analytic QCD calculations. From fits of event shape and jet rate distributions to\({\mathcal{O}}(\alpha _s^2 ) + NLLA\) QCD calculations, we determineαs(133 GeV)=0.110±0.005(stat.)±0.009(syst.). We measure the mean charged particle multiplicity 〈nch〉=23.40±0.45(stat.) ±0.47(syst.) and the position ζ0 of the peak in the ζp = ln(1/xp) distribution ζ0=3.94±0.05(stat.)±0.11(syst.). These results are compared to lower energy data and to analytic QCD or Monte Carlo predictions for their energy evolution.