Measurements of jet cross-section ratios in 13 TeV proton--proton collisions with ATLAS

Abstract

Measurements of jet cross-section ratios between inclusive bins of jet multiplicity are performed in 140 fb$^{-1}$ of proton--proton collisions with $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV center-of-mass energy, recorded with the ATLAS detector at CERN's Large Hadron Collider. Observables that are sensitive the energy-scale and angular distribution of radiation due to the strong interaction in the final state are measured double-differentially, in bins of jet multiplicity, and are unfolded to account for acceptance and detector-related effects. Additionally, the scalar sum of the two leading jets' transverse momenta is measured triple-differentially, in bins of the third jet's transverse momentum as well as bins of jet multiplicity. The measured distributions are used to construct ratios of the inclusive jet-multiplicity bins, which have been shown to be sensitive to the strong coupling $\alpha_{\textrm S}$ while being less sensitive than other observables to systematic uncertainties and parton distribution functions. The measured distributions are compared with state-of-the-art QCD calculations, including next-to-next-to-leading-order predictions. Studies leading to reduced jet energy scale uncertainties significantly improve the precision of this work, and are documented herein.