Triple-jet structures in proton-proton interactions

In this experiment, which uses a superconducting solenoid at the CERN ISR, a large sample of two-jet events produced in proton-proton collisions at 62 GeV centre-of-mass energy has been examined for evidence of three-jet structures; that is, for the presence of events in which three particle jets can be separately identified at large transverse momenta relative to the initial proton directions, there also being spectator jets following these directions, making five jets in all. Such three-jet events are expected to be produced by gluon bremsstrahlung, as has been observed in the e+e- case, but several additional mechanisms are expected in the case of hadronic collisions. The three-jet events are identified by cluster analysis, the particles of each event being sorted into the best three-cluster and two-cluster combinations. Results are briefly described