  A multidimensional study of local multiplicity fluctuations and multiparticle
correlations of hadrons produced in Z decays is performed. The study is based
on the data sample of more than 4 million events recorded with the OPAL
detector at LEP. The fluctuations and correlations are analysed in terms of the
normalized scaled factorial moments and cumulants up to the fifth order. The
moments are observed to have intermittency-like behaviour, which is found to be
more pronounced with increasing dimension. The large data sample allows for the
first time a study of the factorial cumulants in e+e- annihilation. The
analysis of the cumulants shows the existence of genuine multiparticle
correlations with a strong intermittency rise up to higher orders. These
correlations are found to be stronger in higher dimensions. The decomposition
of the factorial moments into lower-order correlations shows that the dynamical
fluctuations have important contributions from genuine many-particle
correlations. The Monte Carlo models JETSET 7.4 and HERWIG 5.9 are found to
reproduce the trend of the measured moments and cumulants but they
underestimate the magnitudes. The results are found to be consistent with QCD
jet formation dynamics, although additional contributions from other mechanisms
in the hadronization process cannot be excluded.
