Precision physics with inclusive QCD processes

Abstract: The inclusive production of hadrons through electroweak currents can be rigorously analysed with short-distance theoretical tools. The associated observables are insensitive to the involved infrared behaviour of the strong interaction, allowing for very precise tests of Quantum Chromodynamics. The theoretical predictions for $\sigma(e^+e^-\to\mathrm{hadrons})$ and the hadronic decay widths of the $\tau$ lepton and the $Z$, $W$ and Higgs bosons have reached an impressive accuracy of $\mathcal{O}(\alpha_s^4)$. Precise experimental measurements of the $Z$ and $\tau$ hadronic widths have made possible the accurate determination of the strong coupling at two very different energy scales, providing a highly significant experimental verification of asymptotic freedom. A detailed discussion of the theoretical description of these processes and their current phenomenological status is presented. The most precise determinations of $\alpha_s$ from other sources are also briefly reviewed and compared with the fully-inclusive results.