https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-019-7010-2
Regular Article - Theoretical Physics
Vector boson production in association with a jet at forward rapidities
1
Institute for Theoretical Physics, ETH, CH-8093, Zürich, Switzerland
2
Department of Physics, University of Zürich, CH-8057, Zürich, Switzerland
3
Institute for Particle Physics Phenomenology, Durham University, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK
4
Theoretical Physics Department, CERN, CH-1211, Geneva 23, Switzerland
* e-mail: duncan.m.walker@durham.ac.uk
Received:
12
February
2019
Accepted:
1
June
2019
Published online:
20
June
2019
Final states with a vector boson and a hadronic jet allow one to infer the Born-level kinematics of the underlying hard scattering process, thereby probing the partonic structure of the colliding protons. At forward rapidities, the parton collisions are highly asymmetric and resolve the parton distributions at very large or very small momentum fractions, where they are less well constrained by other processes. Using theory predictions accurate to next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) in QCD for both 
and 
production in association with a jet at large rapidities at the LHC, we perform a detailed phenomenological analysis of recent LHC measurements. The increased theory precision allows us to clearly identify specific kinematical regions where the description of the data is insufficient. By constructing ratios and asymmetries of these cross sections, we aim to identify possible origins of the deviations, and highlight the potential impact of the data on improved determinations of parton distributions.
© The Author(s), 2019
