The physics of $Z^0/\gamma^*$-tagged jets at the LHC

Abstract

Electroweak bosons produced in conjunction with jets in high-energy collider experiments is one of the principle final-state channels that can be used to test the accuracy of perturbative Quantum Chromodynamics calculations and to assess the potential to uncover new physics through comparison between data and theory. In this paper we present results for the $Z^0/\gamma^*$+jet production cross sections at the LHC at leading and next-to-leading orders. In proton-proton reactions we elucidate up to ${\cal O}(G_F\alpha_s^2)$ the constraints that jet tagging via the $Z^0/\gamma^*$ decay dileptons provides on the momentum distribution of jets. In nucleus-nucleus reactions we demonstrate that tagged jets can probe important aspects of the dynamics of quark and gluon propagation in hot and dense nuclear matter and characterize the properties of the medium-induced parton showers in ways not possible with more inclusive measurements. Finally, we present specific predictions for the anticipated suppression of the $Z^0/\gamma^*$+jet production cross section in the quark-gluon plasma that is expected to be created in central lead-lead collisions at the LHC relative to the naive superposition of independent nucleon-nucleon scatterings.