We present the first experimental results based on the jet boost algorithm, a technique to define unbiased gluon jet samples in e⁺e^- annihilations, i.e. events free of any bias from event selection or jet finding criteria. The boost algorithm has been tested using the Herwig Monte Carlo event generator and then applied to hadronic Z⁰ decays observed with the OPAL detector at the LEP collider. The gluon jet charged particle multiplicity distribution has been measured in seven jet energy bins from 5 to 20 GeV. From these distributions, the mean value and the first two non trivial normalized factorial moments have been extracted. The gluon jet fragmentation function has been measured in two jet energy bins between 14 and 20 GeV. The results have been compared with existing QCD predictions. In general, good agreement has been found between theory data.

PACS numbers: 12.38.Qk