ESTIMATES OF THE HIGHER-ORDER QCD CORRECTIONS TO R(S), R(TAU) AND DEEP-INELASTIC SCATTERING SUM-RULES

We present the attempt to study the problem of the estimates of higher order perturbative corrections to physical quantities in the Euclidean region. Our considerations are based on the application of the scheme-invariant methods, namely the principle of minimal sensitivity and the effective charges approach. We emphasize that in order to obtain the concrete results for the physical quantities in the Minkowskian region the results of application of this formalism should be supplemented by the explicit calculations of the effects of the analytical continuation. We present the estimates of the order O(alpha(s)(4)) QCD corrections to the Euclidean quantities: the e(+)e(-)-annihilation D-function ana the deep inelastic scattering sum rules, namely the nonpolarized and polarized Bjorken sum rules and to the Gross-Llewellyn Smith sum rule. The results for the D-function are further applied to estimate the O(alpha(s)(4)) QCD corrections to the Minkowskian quantities R(s) = sigma(tot)(e(+)e(-) --> hadrons)/sigma(e(+)e(-) --> mu(+)mu(-)) and R(tau) = Gamma(tau --> nu(tau) + hadrons)/Gamma(tau --> nu(tau)nu ($) over bar(e)e). The problem of the fixation of the uncertainties due to the O(alpha(s)(5)) corrections to the considered quantities is also discussed.