W/Z+jets Standard Model Candles and New Physics at CMS

Abstract:

Studies of W/Z+jets production is an important component of the LHC physics program at CMS. 
With production cross sections on the order of nanobarns for pp collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 14$ 
TeV, the leptonic and invisible decays of $W$ and $Z$ bosons result in a large background to 
BSM physics searches in the lepton+MET+jets final state topologies whose understanding is 
essential for new physics sensitivity.

We describe a program of studies whereby this event topology can be used to tune Monte Carlo 
generators, calibrate and quantify detector simulation performance, validate and study both 
leptonic and hadronic physics object reconstruction and determine the shapes of important 
kinematic distributions, in a fully data-driven way.

In addition to being a powerful tool for improving and understanding event simulation and for 
understanding backgrounds to NP searches, we demonstrate how these studies can also be used 
as a direct probe of BSM physics.