Cross-section measurements for the production of a Z boson in association with high-transverse-momentum jets in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Cross-section measurements for a Z boson produced in association with high-transverse-momentum jets (pT ≥ 100 GeV) and decaying into a charged-lepton pair (e+e−, μ+μ−) are presented. The measurements are performed using proton–proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 13 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb−1 collected by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. Measurements of angular correlations between the Z boson and the closest jet are performed in events with at least one jet with pT ≥ 500 GeV. Event topologies of particular interest are the collinear emission of a Z boson in dijet events and a boosted Z boson recoiling against a jet. Fiducial cross sections are compared with state-of-the-art theoretical predictions. The data are found to agree with next-to-next-to-leading-order predictions by NNLOJET and with the next-to-leading-order multi-leg generators MADGRAPH5_AMC@NLO and SHERPA.