QCD: tests of basic properties in jet physics

Jet distributions in high-energy processes allow tests of the basic properties of QCD: the spin of the gluons, their color charges and self-interactions, and the magnitude and energy dependence of the coupling constant. Recent jet analyses of hadronic final states in e+e- annihilation provide strong support for the vector nature of the gluons and for their self-couplings as prescribed by the non-abelian nature of QCD. Interquark forces at short distances have been measured in dijet final states of pp-bar collisions at large transverse momenta. Theoretical QCD analyses predict a linear rise of the interquark potential at large distances while the form of the spin-dependent forces is compatible with the predictions derived from scalar confinement, in agreement with the experimental results in quarkonium physics. (author)