Precise predictions are provided for the production of a $Z$ boson and a $b$-jet in hadron-hadron collisions within the framework of perturbative QCD, at $\mathcal{O}({\alpha }_s^3)$. To obtain these predictions, we perform the first calculation of a hadronic scattering process involving the direct production of a flavored jet at next-to-next-to-leading-order accuracy in massless QCD and extend techniques to also account for the impact of finite heavy-quark mass effects. The predictions are compared to CMS data obtained in $pp$ collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV, which are the most precise data from run I of the LHC for this process, where a good description of the data is achieved. To allow this comparison, we have performed an unfolding of the data, which overcomes the long-standing issue that the experimental and theoretical definitions of jet flavor are incompatible.

• Received 16 May 2020
• Revised 13 October 2020
• Accepted 30 October 2020

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.125.222002

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Published by the American Physical Society