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.
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.
Forum