Measurements of differential cross sections for associated production of a W boson and jets in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV

TL;DR

This paper reports detailed measurements of how often W bosons are produced with jets in proton-proton collisions at 8 TeV, providing data to test and validate theoretical models and simulations used in high-energy physics research.

Contribution

It presents the first comprehensive set of differential cross section measurements for W+jets production at 8 TeV, comparing results with various theoretical predictions and event generators.

Findings

Measured differential cross sections as functions of jet multiplicity, pT, and HT.

Good agreement found between data and advanced theoretical models.

Results enhance the reliability of simulations for new physics searches.

Abstract

Differential cross sections for a W boson produced in association with jets are measured in a data sample of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV recorded with the CMS detector and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.6 inverse femtobarns. The W bosons are identified through their decay mode W to mu nu. The cross sections are reported as functions of jet multiplicity, transverse momenta, and the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta (HT) for different jet multiplicities. Distributions of the angular correlations between the jets and the muon are examined, as well as the average number of jets as a function of HT and as a function of angular variables. The measured differential cross sections are compared with tree-level and higher-order recent event generators, as well as next-to-leading-order and next-to-next-to-leading-order theoretical predictions. The agreement of the generators with the measurements builds confidence in their use for the simulation of W+jets background processes in searches for new physics at the LHC.