Tests of QCD at LEP

Abstract

The four experiments, ALEPH, DELPHI, L3 and OPAL at LEP, have performed a large number of precise measurements to test Quantum Chromodynamics. The strong coupling constant has been measured with high precision: α_s (M_z) = 0.123±0.004. The coupling constant has been found to be independent of quark flavour. The running of α _s has been demonstrated by the data. Second order QCD matrix element calculations have been tested from several measured distributions in 3-jet and 4-jet events. These distributions give evidence of the vector nature of the gluon and provide measurements of the QCD colour factors. The hadronic distributions are well reproduced by QCD Monte Carlo programs as well as by analytical calculations with soft gluon coherence effects.