The energy dependence of the relative production rate of three-jet events is studied in hadronic e + e − annihilation events at center of mass energies between 22 and 46.7 GeV. Three-jet events are defined by a jet finding algorithm which is closely related to the definition of resolvable jets used in O( α s 2 ) perturbative QCD calculations, where the relative production rate of three-jet events is roughly proportional to the size of the strong coupling strength. The production rates of three-jet events in the data decrease significantly with increasing centre of mass energy. The experimental rates, which are independent of fragmentation model calculations, can be directly compared to theoretically calculated jet production rates and are in good agreement with the QCD expectations of a running coupling strength. The hypothesis of an energy independent coupling constant can be excluded with a significance of four standard derivations.
No description provided.
No description provided.
No description provided.
Differential three-jet cross sections have been measured in e + e − -annihilation at an average CM energy of 33.8 GeV and were compared to first- and second-order predictions of QCD and of a QED-like abelian vector theory. QCD provides a good description of the observed distributions. The inclusion of second-order effects reduced the observed quark-gluon coupling strength by about 20% to α S = 0.16 ± 0.015 (stat.) ± 0.03 (syst.). The abelian vector theory is found to be incompatible with the data.
FIRST ORDER QCD.
SECOND ORDER QCD.
Topological distributions of charged and neutral hadrons from the reaction e + e − → multihadrons are studied at √ s of about 30 GeV. An excess of planar events is observed at a rate which cannot be explained by statistical fluctuations in the standard two-jet process. The planar events, mostly consisting of a slim jet on one side and a broader jet on the other, are shown actually to possess three-jet structure by demonstrating that the broader jet itself consists of two collinear jets in its own rest system. Detailed agreement between data and predictions is obtained if the process e + e − →q q ̄ g is taken into account. This strongly suggests gluon bremsstrahlung as the origin of the planar three-jet events. By comparison of the data with the qq̄g-model we obtain a value for the strong coupling constant of α S ( q 2 = 0.17 ± 0.04.
THRUST AND PLANARITY DISTRIBUTIONS. FINAL (BETTER) THRUST DISTRIBUTIONS WITH DETECTOR CORRECTIONS TO BE PUBLISHED LATER.
No description provided.
The particle flow distributions in the event plane of 3-jet\((e^ +e^ -\to q\bar qg)\) and of radiative 2-jet\((e^ +e^ -\to q\bar q\gamma )\) events are compared at a centre of mass energy of 35 GeV. The number of particles in the angular region opposite to the gluon in\(q\bar qg\) events is found to be significantly reduced relative to the number of particles in the region opposite to the hard photon in\(q\bar q\gamma \) events. This depletion is expected from the “string effect” observed in 3-jet events. It can be explained within the framework of QCD as arising from soft gluon interference.
Data requested from authors.
Topological distributions of hadrons from the reaction e + e − → hadrons are studied at center of mass energies of about 33 GeV. The experimental distributions in the parameters acoplanarity and tripodity, both sensitive to events with a four-jet structure, show significant deviations from the expectations for two- and three-jet events. They can be described well by the inclusion of four-jet events. The relative magnitude of the observed effect indicates second order QCD as its probable origin.
No description provided.