Angular correlations in three - jet events in ep collisions at HERA ZEUS

Three-jet production in deep inelastic ep scattering and photoproduction was investigated with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 127 pb−1. Measurements of differential cross sections are presented as functions of angular correlations between the three jets in the final state and the protonbeam direction. These correlations provide a stringent test of perturbative QCD and show sensitivity to the contributions from different colour configurations. Fixed-order perturbative QCD calculations assuming the values of the colour factors CF , CA and TF as derived from a variety of gauge groups were compared to the measurements to study the underlying gauge group symmetry. The measured angular correlations in the deep inelastic ep scattering and photoproduction regimes are consistent with the admixture of colour configurations as predicted by SU(3) and disfavour other symmetry groups, such as SU(N) in the limit of large N . The ZEUS Collaboration S. Chekanov, M. Derrick, S. Magill, B. Musgrave, D. Nicholass, J. Repond, R. Yoshida Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439-4815, USA n M.C.K. Mattingly Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Michigan 49104-0380, USA P. Antonioli, G. Bari, L. Bellagamba, D. Boscherini, A. Bruni, G. Bruni, F. Cindolo, M. Corradi, G. Iacobucci, A. Margotti, R. Nania, A. Polini INFN Bologna, Bologna, Italy e S. Antonelli, M. Basile, M. Bindi, L. Cifarelli, A. Contin, S. De Pasquale, G. Sartorelli, A. Zichichi University and INFN Bologna, Bologna, Italy e D. Bartsch, I. Brock, H. Hartmann, E. Hilger, H.-P. Jakob, M. Jüngst, A.E. Nuncio-Quiroz, E. Paul, U. Samson, V. Schönberg, R. Shehzadi, M. Wlasenko Physikalisches Institut der Universität Bonn, Bonn, Germany b N.H. Brook, G.P. Heath, J.D. Morris H.H. Wills Physics Laboratory, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom m M. Capua, S. Fazio, A. Mastroberardino, M. Schioppa, G. Susinno, E. Tassi Calabria University, Physics Department and INFN, Cosenza, Italy e J.Y. Kim Chonnam National University, Kwangju, South Korea Z.A. Ibrahim, B. Kamaluddin, W.A.T. Wan Abdullah Jabatan Fizik, Universiti Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia r Y. Ning, Z. Ren, F. Sciulli Nevis Laboratories, Columbia University, Irvington on Hudson, New York 10027 o J. Chwastowski, A. Eskreys, J. Figiel, A. Galas, K. Olkiewicz, P. Stopa, L. Zawiejski The Henryk Niewodniczanski Institute of Nuclear Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Cracow, Poland i L. Adamczyk, T. Bo ld, I. Grabowska-Bo ld, D. Kisielewska, J. Lukasik, M. Przybycień, L. Suszycki Faculty of Physics and Applied Computer Science, AGH-University of Science and Technology, Cracow, Poland p A. Kotański, W. S lomiński Department of Physics, Jagellonian University, Cracow, Poland