Book Description

This Ph. D. thesis presents the measurement of inclusive jet cross sections in Z/[gamma]* 2!ee− events using 1.7 fb−1 of data collected by the upgraded CDF detector during the Run II of the Tevatron. The Midpoint cone algorithm is used to search for jets in the events after identifying the presence of a Z/[gamma]* boson through the reconstruction of its decay products. The measurements are compared to next-to-LO (NLO) pQCD predictions for events with one and two jets in the final state. The perturbative predictions are corrected for the contributions of non-perturbative processes, like the underlying event and the fragmentation of the partons into jets of hadrons. These processes are not described by perturbation theory and must be estimated from phenomenological models. In this thesis, a number of measurements are performed to test different models of underlying event and hadronization implemented in LO plus parton shower Monte Carlo generator programs. Chapter 2 is devoted to the description of the theory of strong interactions and jet phenomenology at hadron colliders. Chapter 3 contains the description of the Tevatron collider and the CDF detector. The analysis is described in detail in Chapter 4. Chapter 5 shows the measurement of those observables sensitive to non-perturbative effects compared to the predictions from several Monte Carlo programs. Chapter 6 discusses the final results and the comparison with theoretical expectations. Finally, Chapter 7 is devoted to the conclusions.