Aspects of Quantum Chromodynamics

Abstract

These lectures provide an overview of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), the SU(3) gauge theory of the strong interactions. The running of the strong coupling and the associated property of Asymptotic Freedom are analyzed. Some selected experimental tests and the present knowledge of ${\alpha }_s$ and the quark masses are briefly summarized. A short description of the QCD flavour symmetries and the dynamical breaking of chiral symmetry is also given.

50 pages, 24 figures. Lectures given at the ICTP Summer School in Particle Physics (Trieste, 1999)