Measurement of differential cross sections for Z boson production in association with jets in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} =$ 13 TeV

Understand

The production of a Z boson, decaying to two charged leptons, in association with jets in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV is measured.

• Data recorded with the CMS detector at the LHC are used that correspond to an integrated luminosity of 2.19 fb$^{-1}$.
• The cross section is measured as a function of the jet multiplicity and its dependence on the transverse momentum of the Z boson, the jet kinematic variables (transverse momentum and rapidity), the scalar sum of the jet momenta, which quantifies the hadronic activity, and the balance in transverse momentum between the reconstructed jet recoil and the Z boson.
• The measurements are compared with predictions from four different calculations.