The hadronic final state at HERA

The hadronic final state in electron-proton collisions at HERA has provided a rich testing ground for development of the theory of the strong force, QCD. In this review, over 200 publications from the H1 and ZEUS Collaborations are summarized. Short distance physics, the measurement of processes at high-energy scales, has provided rigorous tests of perturbative QCD and constrained the structure of the proton as well as allowing precise determinations of the strong coupling constant to be made. Nonperturbative or low-energy processes have also been investigated and results on hadronization interpreted together with those from other experiments. Searches for exotic QCD objects, such as pentaquarks, glueballs, and instantons, have been performed. The subject of diffraction has been reinvigorated through its precise measurement, such that it can now be described by perturbative QCD. After discussion of HERA, the H1 and ZEUS detectors, and the techniques used to reconstruct differing hadronic final states, the above subject areas are elaborated on. The major achievements are then condensed further in a final section summarizing what has been learned.