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.

中文翻译：

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具有包容性 QCD 过程的精密物理

可以使用短距离理论工具严格分析通过弱电电流产生的强子。相关的观测对强相互作用所涉及的红外行为不敏感，允许对量子色动力学进行非常精确的测试。$ \ sigma (e ^ + e ^ - \ to \ mathrm {hadrons}) $ 的理论预测以及$ \ tau $ 轻子和$ Z $、$ W $ 和希格斯玻色子的强子衰变宽度已经达到$ \ mathcal {O} (\ alpha_s ^ 4) $ 令人印象深刻的准确性。$Z$和$\tau$强子宽度的精确实验测量使得在两个非常不同的能量尺度下准确确定强耦合成为可能，为渐近自由提供了非常重要的实验验证。详细讨论了这些过程的理论描述及其当前的现象学状态。还简要回顾了其他来源对 $\alpha_s $ 的最精确测定，并与完全包含的结果进行了比较。