The properties of high-mass multijet events produced at the Fermilab proton-antiproton collider are compared with leading order QCD matrix element predictions, QCD parton shower Monte Carlo predictions, and the predictions from a model in which events are distributed uniformly over the available multibody phase space. Multijet distributions corresponding to ($4N-4$) variables that span the $N$-body parameter space are found to be well described by the QCD calculations for inclusive three-jet, four-jet, and five-jet events. The agreement between data, QCD matrix element calculations, and QCD parton shower Monte Carlo predictions suggests that 2→2 scattering plus gluon radiation provides a good first approximation to the full LO QCD matrix element for events with three, four, or even five jets in the final state.

• Received 10 May 1996

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.54.4221