Variation of the strong coupling constant from a measurement of the jet energy spread in e+e- annihilation

Abstract

A measurement of jet energy spread in the reaction e+e- → hadrons is presented. Using a jet calculus model for the jet development we determine the variation of the strong coupling constant with respect to momentum transfer. The observed variation is consistent with that expected for QCD over a wide range of momentum transfers. This method alone is not sufficient to distinguish QCD from simple limited transverse momentum models. © 1983