We present the first experimental results based on the jet boost algorithm, a technique to select unbiased samples of gluon jets in $e^{+}{e}^{-}$ annihilations, i.e. gluon jets free of biases introduced by event selection or jet finding criteria. Our results are derived from hadronic $Z^0$ decays observed with the OPAL detector at the LEP $e^{+}{e}^{-}$ collider at CERN. First, we test the boost algorithm through studies with HERWIG Monte Carlo events and find that it provides accurate measurements of the charged particle multiplicity distributions of unbiased gluon jets for jet energies larger than about 5 GeV, and of the jet particle energy spectra (fragmentation functions) for jet energies larger than about 14 GeV. Second, we apply the boost algorithm to our data to derive unbiased measurements of the gluon jet multiplicity distribution for energies between about 5 and 18 GeV, and of the gluon jet fragmentation function at 14 and 18 GeV. In conjunction with our earlier results at 40 GeV, we then test QCD calculations for the energy evolution of the distributions, specifically the mean and first two nontrivial normalized factorial moments of the multiplicity distribution, and the fragmentation function. The theoretical results are found to be in global agreement with the data, although the factorial moments are not well described for jet energies below about 14 GeV.

• Received 24 October 2003

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.69.032002