Abstract
Abstract This chapter focuses on the modern theory of strong forces: quantum chromodynamics (QCD). It introduces this theory by analogy to quantum electrodynamics (QED) starting from the only elementary fermions that undergo strong interactions, the quarks. The chapter generalizes the concept of electric charge to three color charges. It shows that QCD is based on the assumption that the color charge assignments are conventional and then, the QCD Lagrangian must have a symmetry accounting for it. The corresponding gauge symmetry SU(3)c originates all QCD diagrams. The chapter thus presents the most prominent feature of QCD, asymptotic freedom and its link to quark confinement. Finally, it describes the experimental proofs that quarks are real physical particles and can be identified with Feynman’s partons. It discusses modern methods to test QCD predictions from the observation of jets.
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