Real radiation at next-to-next-to-leading order in QCD: e+e- --> 2 jets through O(alpha2s).

We present a calculation of the differential two-jet cross section in ${e}^{+}{e}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ annihilation through next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) in the strong coupling constant ${\ensuremath{\alpha}}_{s}$. The calculation is performed using a new method for dealing with real radiation suggested recently by us. For the first time, the two-jet event rate is computed directly, without any reference to the inclusive cross section ${e}^{+}{e}^{\ensuremath{-}}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\mathrm{\text{hadrons}}$. We also calculate the energy distribution of the leading jet in ${e}^{+}{e}^{\ensuremath{-}}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}2$ jets and find significant modifications of the shape of this distribution at NNLO.