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.

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.

Three-jet production is studied for the first time in deep-inelastic positron-proton scattering. The measurement carried out with the H1 detector at HERA covers a large range of four-momentum transfer squared 5 < Q^2 < 5000 GeV^2 and invariant three-jet masses 25 < M_(3jet) < 140 GeV. Jets are defined by the inclusive k_T algorithm in the Breit frame. The size of the three-jet cross section and the ratio of the three-jet to the dijet cross section R_(3/2) are described over the whole phase space by the predictions of perturbative QCD in next-to-leading order. The shapes of angular jet distributions deviate significantly from a uniform population of the available phase space but are well described by the QCD calculation.

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.

The interaction of virtual photons is investigated using double tagged gammagamma events with hadronic final states recorded by the ALEPH experiment at e^+e^- centre-of-mass energies between 188 and 209 GeV. The measured cross section is compared to Monte Carlo models, and to next-to-leading-order QCD and BFKL calculations.

In this paper, results are presented from a study of the hadronic final states in e+e− annihilation at 29 GeV. The data were obtained with the High Resolution Spectrometer (HRS) at the SLAC PEP e+e− colliding-beam facility. The results are based on 6342 selected events corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.6 pb−1. The distributions of the events in sphericity (S), thrust (T), and aplanarity (A) are given and compared to other e+e− data in the same energy range. We measure 〈S〉=0.130±0.003±0.010 and 〈1-T〉=0.100±0.002. The sphericity distribution is compared to sphericity measurements made for beam jets in hadronic collisions as well as jets studied in neutrino scattering. The data sample is further reduced to 4371 events with the two-jet selections, S≤0.25 and A≤0.1. The single-particle distributions in the longitudinal and transverse directions are given. For low values of the momentum fraction (z=2p/W), the invariant distribution shows a maximum at z∼0.06, consistent with a QCD expectation. The data at high Feynman x (xF) show distribution consistent with being dominated by a (1-xf)2 variation for the leading quark-meson transition. The rapidity distribution shows a shallow central minimum with a height (1/NevdNh/dY‖Y=0=2.3±0.02±0.07. The mean charged multiplicity is measured to be 〈nch〉=13.1±0.05±0.6. The mean transverse momentum relative to the thrust axis 〈pT〉 rises as a function of z to a value of 0.70±0.02 GeV/c for z≳0.3. The distributions are compared to those measured in other reactions.

The production of neutral strange hadrons is investigated using deep-inelastic scattering events measured with the H1 detector at HERA. The measurements are made in the phase space defined by the negative four-momentum transfer squared of the photon 2 &lt; Q^2 &lt; 100 GeV^2 and the inelasticity 0.1 &lt; y &lt; 0.6. The K_s and Lambda production cross sections and their ratios are determined. K_s production is compared to the production of charged particles in the same region of phase space. The Lambda - anti-Lambda asymmetry is also measured and found to be consistent with zero. Predictions of leading order Monte Carlo programs are compared to the data.

We present data on the production of the baryons Λ,\(\bar \Lambda \),p and of the baryon resonances Σ*+ (1385) and Δ++ (1232) inK+p and π+p interactions at 250 GeV/c. Results are given on total and semi-inclusive cross sections, Feynman-x spectra, transverse momentum distributions and Λ polarization. The data are compared with measurements at lower energies, with deep inclastic lepton nucleon data and with predictions of quark-parton models. The models underestimate Λ production in the central c.m. region, a feature also seen in recent heavy-ion data. This failure can be cured in JETSET 6.3 by adjustment of the di-quark break-up probability.

The production of strange baryons ine+e− annihilation has been studied at centre of mass energies of 34.8 GeV and 42.1 GeV, using the TASSO detector at DESY. Inclusive cross-sections have been obtained forΛ0 andΞ− production and an upper limit has been placed upon the production rate of Σ*±(1385). We measure theΛ0 multiplicity per event to be\(\begin{gathered}\hfill \\0.218_{ - 0.011}^{ + 0.011}\pm 0.021 \hfill \\ \end{gathered} \) and\(0.256_{ - 0.029}^{ + 0.030}\pm 0.025\) at\(\sqrt s=34.8\) and 42.1 GeV respectively. The Ξ− multiplicity per event is found to be\(0.014_{ - 0.003}^{ + 0.003}\pm 0.004\) at\(\sqrt s=34.8 GeV\). An investigation has been made of the extent to whichΛ0 are produced in pairs. TheΛ0 cross-section has been studied as a function of event sphericity.

We have studied hadronic events from e+e- annihilation data at centre-of-mass energies of sqrt{s}=172, 183 and 189 GeV. The total integrated luminosity of the three samples, measured with the OPAL detector, corresponds to 250 pb^-1. We present distributions of event shape variables, charged particle multiplicity and momentum, measured separately in the three data samples. From these we extract measurements of the strong coupling alpha_s, the mean charged particle multiplicity <nch> and the peak position xi_0 in the xi_p=ln(1/x_p) distribution. In general the data are described well by analytic QCD calculations and Monte Carlo models. Our measured values of alpha_s, <nch> and xi_0 are consistent with previous determinations at sqrt{s}=MZ.