One of the triumphs of modern particle physics has been the extent to which Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) has successfully accounted for the strong interaction processes observed at colliders, most notably the dramatic phenomena of hadronic jet and heavy quark production, and the short-distance parton structure of hadrons.

This book gives a comprehensive overview of the physics of high-energy colliders with special emphasis on the study of QCD. After a general description of the QCD Lagrangian, and the properties of asymptotic freedom and colour confinement which follow from it, the most important applications at high-energy colliders are described in detail. These include the production of jets, heavy quarks, electroweak gauge bosons and Higgs bosons. The various methods of measuring the strong coupling constant are summarized. Many important theoretical results are derived from first principles, and the book will be both a textbook and a valuable source of reference material for all particle physicists.