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 ($p_T$ ≥ 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 $p_T$ ≥ 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-nextto-leading-order predictions by NNLOjet and with the next-to-leading-order multi-leg generators MadGraph5_aMC@NLO and Sherpa.