Measurements of jet multiplicity and differential production cross sections of Z + jets events in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

TL;DR

This paper reports detailed measurements of Z boson production with jets in proton-proton collisions at 7 TeV, comparing experimental data with theoretical QCD predictions to enhance understanding of particle interactions.

Contribution

It provides the first comprehensive differential cross section measurements of Z + jets events at 7 TeV, including jet multiplicity and kinematic distributions, compared with advanced QCD calculations.

Findings

Measured jet multiplicity up to six jets.

Differential cross sections as functions of jet pT and pseudorapidity.

Good agreement with next-to-leading order QCD predictions.

Abstract

Measurements of differential cross sections are presented for the production of a Z boson and at least one hadronic jet in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV, recorded by the CMS detector, using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.9 inverse femtobarns. The jet multiplicity distribution is measured for up to six jets. The differential cross sections are measured as a function of jet transverse momentum and pseudorapidity for the four highest transverse momentum jets. The distribution of the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta is also measured as a function of the jet multiplicity. The measurements are compared with theoretical predictions at leading and next-to-leading order in perturbative QCD.