  This paper presents a new set of multijet event shape variables introduced to
further understand the Mueller-Navelet jet topology. This topology consists of
having at least one pair of jets with a very large rapidity separation between
them, treating additional jet activity inclusively. This multijet topology is
expected to shed light on the radiation pattern that is expected in the
high-energy limit of the strong interaction. The paper relies on a Monte Carlo
event generator analysis. One set of predictions uses the BFKLex event
generator, which is based on Balitsky-Fadin-Kuraev-Lipatov (BFKL) perturbative
quantum chromodynamics (pQCD) evolution with a resummation of large logarithms
of energy at leading-logarithmic accuracy. The BFKLex predictions are compared
with a fixed-order next-to-leading order pQCD calculation using POWHEG matched
to the parton shower of PYTHIA8 (NLO+PS), which is the standard for NLO
generator predictions at the LHC. We find that both approaches lead to
compatible results at current LHC energies, assuming the current experimental
constraints for the reconstruction of low transverse momentum jets in ATLAS and
CMS. This shows the reliability of the BFKL approach at describing the behavior
of the strong interaction in the preasymptotic limit of high center-of-mass
energies. Differences between the NLO+PS and the BFKL-based approaches are
found when the jet multiplicity is increased or when the minimum transverse
momentum of the jets is decreased.
