Seeing Color in Black & White: Recent QCD measurements at the Tevatron Collider

Presented by Michael Strauss, University of Oklahoma

Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) is the study of the strong force that binds quarks together inside neutrons and protons and, ultimately, holds the nucleus together. Each quark and gluon in the nucleus carries a color charge required of any object that interacts via the strong reaction. Yet, the colors of QCD are never observed directly due to color confinement, the fact that quarks are always bound tightly in groups, so that the properties of QCD must be understood by observing objects which have no color. This colloquium will discuss some of the recent measurements of the properties of perturbative QCD using the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. These measurements give insight into the structure of the proton and have the potential of discovering physics not described by the standard model of elementary particles and fields. The results will include the most precise measurements of the inclusive jet cross section and dijet cross section taken at a hadron collider.