Measurement of the ratios of the Z/G* + >= n jet production cross sections to the total inclusive Z/G* cross section in ppbar collisions at sqrt(s) = 1.96 TeV

TL;DR

This paper measures the ratios of Z boson plus n-jet production cross sections to the total Z boson production in proton-antiproton collisions at 1.96 TeV, comparing results with QCD predictions.

Contribution

First measurement of Z plus n-jet cross section ratios at Tevatron energies, providing data for testing QCD calculations and models.

Findings

Measurements agree with next-to-leading order QCD calculations

Results match tree-level QCD with parton shower and hadronization

Data supports current QCD modeling of Z+jets processes

Abstract

We present a study of events with Z bosons and jets produced at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider in ppbar collisions at a center of mass energy of 1.96 TeV. The data sample consists of nearly 14,000 Z/G* -> e+e- candidates corresponding to the integrated luminosity of 0.4 fb-1 collected using the D0 detector. Ratios of the Z/G* + >= n jet cross sections to the total inclusive Z/G* cross section have been measured for n = 1 to 4 jet events. Our measurements are found to be in good agreement with a next-to-leading order QCD calculation and with a tree-level QCD prediction with parton shower simulation and hadronization.