Next-to-leading order QCD corrections and massive quarks in e+e− → 3 jets Original Research Article

We present in detail a calculation of the next-to-leading order QCD corrections to the process e+e− → 3 jets with massive quarks. To isolate the soft and collinear divergencies of the four-parton matrix elements, we modify the phase space slicing method to account for masses. Our computation allows for the prediction of oriented three-jet events involving heavy quarks, both on and off the Z resonance, and of any event shape variable which is dominated by three-jet configurations. We show next-to-leading order results for the three-jet fraction, the differential two-jet rate, and for the thrust distribution at various c.m. energies.