We have studied hadronic events produced at LEP at a centre-of-mass energy of 161 GeV. We present distributions of event shape variables, jet rates, charged particle momentum spectra and multiplicities. We determine the strong coupling strength to be αs(161 GeV) = 0.101±0.005(stat.)±0.007(syst.), the mean charged particle multiplicity to be 〈nch〉(161 GeV) = 24.46 ± 0.45(stat.) ± 0.44(syst.) and the position of the peak in the ξp = ln(1/xp) distribution to be ξ0(161 GeV) = 4.00 ±0.03(stat.)±0.04(syst.). These results are compared to data taken at lower centre-of-mass energies and to analytic QCD or Monte Carlo predictions. Our measured value of αs(161 GeV) is consistent with other measurements of αs. Within the current statistical and systematic uncertainties, the PYTHIA, HERWIG and ARIADNE QCD Monte Carlo models and analytic calculations are in overall agreement with our measurements. The COJETS QCD Monte Carlo is in general agreement with the data for momentum weighted distributions like Thrust, but predicts a significantly larger charged particle multiplicity than is observed experimentally.

Charged particle momentum distributions are studied in the reaction e+e- -> hadrons, using data collected with the OPAL detector at centre-of-mass energies from 192 GeV to 209 GeV. The data correspond to an average centre-of- mass energy of 201.7 GeV and a total integrated luminosity of 433 pb-1. The measured distributions and derived quantities, in combination with corresponding results obtained at lower centre-of-mass energies, are compared to QCD predictions in various theoretical approaches to study the energy dependence of the strong interaction and to test QCD as the theory describing it. In general, a good agreement is found between the measurements and the corresponding QCD predictions.

We have studied hadronic events from e+e- annihilation data at centre-of-mass energies of sqrt{s}=172, 183 and 189 GeV. The total integrated luminosity of the three samples, measured with the OPAL detector, corresponds to 250 pb^-1. We present distributions of event shape variables, charged particle multiplicity and momentum, measured separately in the three data samples. From these we extract measurements of the strong coupling alpha_s, the mean charged particle multiplicity <nch> and the peak position xi_0 in the xi_p=ln(1/x_p) distribution. In general the data are described well by analytic QCD calculations and Monte Carlo models. Our measured values of alpha_s, <nch> and xi_0 are consistent with previous determinations at sqrt{s}=MZ.

The normalized differential cross section for top quark pair (tt-bar) production is measured in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV at the CERN LHC using the CMS detector in data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 inverse femtobarns. The measurements are performed in the lepton + jets (e/mu + jets) and in the dilepton (e+e-, mu+mu-, and e+-mu-+) decay channels. The tt-bar cross section is measured as a function of the kinematic properties of the charged leptons, the jets associated to b quarks, the top quarks, and the tt-bar system. The data are compared with several predictions from perturbative quantum chromodynamics up to approximate next-to-next-to-leading-order precision. No significant deviations are observed relative to the standard model predictions.

Dijet angular distributions are measured over a wide range of dijet invariant masses in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV, at the CERN LHC. The event sample, recorded with the CMS detector, corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 36 inverse picobarns. The data are found to be in good agreement with the predictions of perturbative QCD, and yield no evidence of quark compositeness. With a modified frequentist approach, a lower limit on the contact interaction scale for left-handed quarks of Lambda = 5.6 TeV (6.7 TeV) for destructive (constructive) interference is obtained at the 95% confidence level.

Measurements of the normalized rapidity (y) and transverse momentum (qT) distributions of Drell-Yan muon and electron pairs in the Z-boson mass region (60<M(ll)<120 GeV) are reported. The results are obtained using a data sample of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV, collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36 inverse picobarns. The distributions are measured over the ranges |y|<3.5 and qT<600 GeV and compared with QCD calculations using recent parton distribution functions. Overall agreement is observed between the models and data for the rapidity distribution, while no single model describes the Z transverse-momentum distribution over the full range.

The inclusive b-jet production cross section in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV is measured using data collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC. The cross section is presented as a function of the jet transverse momentum in the range 18 < pT < 200 GeV for several rapidity intervals. The results are also given as the ratio of the b-jet production cross section to the inclusive jet production cross section. The measurement is performed with two different analyses, which differ in their trigger selection and b-jet identification: a jet analysis that selects events with a b jet using a sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 34 inverse picobarns, and a muon analysis requiring a b jet with a muon based on an integrated luminosity of 3 inverse picobarns. In both approaches the b jets are identified by requiring a secondary vertex. The results from the two methods are in agreement with each other and with next-to-leading order calculations, as well as with predictions based on the PYTHIA event generator.

The production of Z bosons is studied in the dimuon and dielectron decay channels in PbPb and pp collisions at sqrt(s[NN]) = 2.76 TeV, using data collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC. The PbPb data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of about 150 inverse microbarns, while the pp data sample collected in 2013 at the same nucleon-nucleon centre-of-mass energy has an integrated luminosity of 5.4 inverse picobarns. The Z boson yield is measured as a function of rapidity, transverse momentum, and collision centrality. The ratio of PbPb to pp yields, scaled by the number of inelastic nucleon-nucleon collisions, is found to be 1.06 +/- 0.05 (stat) +/- 0.08 (syst) in the dimuon channel and 1.02 +/- 0.08 (stat) +/- 0.15 (syst) in the dielectron channel, for centrality-integrated Z boson production. This binary collision scaling is seen to hold in the entire kinematic region studied, as expected for a colourless probe that is unaffected by the hot and dense QCD medium produced in heavy ion collisions.

A study of dijet production in proton-proton collisions was performed at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV for jets with pt > 35 GeV and abs(y) < 4.7 using data collected with the CMS detector at the LHC in 2010. Events with at least one pair of jets are denoted as 'inclusive'. Events with exactly one pair of jets are called 'exclusive'. The ratio of the cross section of all pairwise combinations of jets to the exclusive dijet cross section as a function of the rapidity difference between jets abs(Delta(y)) is measured for the first time up to abs(Delta(y)) = 9.2. The ratio of the cross section for the pair consisting of the most forward and the most backward jet from the inclusive sample to the exclusive dijet cross section is also presented. The predictions of the Monte Carlo event generators PYTHIA6 and PYTHIA8 agree with the measurements. In both ratios the HERWIG++ generator exhibits a more pronounced rise versus abs(Delta(y)) than observed in the data. The BFKL-motivated generators CASCADE and HEJ+ARIADNE predict for these ratios a significantly stronger rise than observed.

A measurement of the differential cross sections for a W boson produced in association with jets in the muon decay channel is presented. The measurement is based on 13 TeV proton-proton collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2.2 inverse femtobarns, recorded by the CMS detector at the LHC. The cross sections are reported as functions of jet multiplicity, jet transverse momentum pT, jet rapidity, the scalar pT sum of the jets, and angular correlations between the muon and the jet for different jet multiplicities. The measured cross sections are in agreement with predictions that include multileg leading-order (LO) and next-to-LO matrix element calculations interfaced with parton showers, as well as a next-to-next-to-LO calculation for the W boson and one jet production.