NLO QCD matrix elements + parton showers in e+e- -> hadrons

Abstract: We present a new approach to combine multiple NLO parton-level calculations matched to parton showers into a single inclusive event sample. The method provides a description of hard multi-jet configurations at next-to leading order in the perturbative expansion of QCD, and it is supplemented with the all-orders resummed modelling of jet fragmentation provided by the parton shower. The formal accuracy of this technique is discussed in detail, invoking the example of electron-positron annihilation into hadrons. We focus on the effect of renormalisation scale variations in particular. Comparison with experimental data from LEP underlines that this novel formalism describes data with a theoretical accuracy that has hitherto not been achieved in standard Monte Carlo event generators.