Physics of Z0/γ*-tagged jets at energies available at the CERN Large Hadron Collider

Electroweak bosons produced in conjunction with jets in high-energy collider experiments is one of the principal 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 article we present results for the Z⁰/γ^*+jet production cross sections at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at leading and next-to-leading orders. In proton-proton reactions we elucidate up to O(G_Fα_s²) the constraints that jet tagging via the Z⁰/γ^* 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 Z⁰/γ^*+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.