Higher order QCD corrections to W and Z boson production do not only manifest themselves in the generation of high transverse momenta of the weak bosons, but these QCD effects become directly visible in the production of jets in association with the weak bosons. Studying these processes is not only interesting from the perspective of testing perturbative QCD, but also to constrain a major background to many Standard Model (SM) of non-SM physics signals, e.g. top pair and single top production, searchers for the Higgs boson, leptoquarks and supersymmetric particles. This thesis describes a measurement of Z/[gamma]* + jets production in p$\bar{p}$ collisions at √s = 1.96 TeV in the decay channel Z/[gamma]* → [mu]+[mu]-. An integrated luminosity of L≈ 1fb-1 collected by the D0 detector at the Tevatron between August 2002 and February 2006 has been used. Differential production cross sections as function of the transverse energy of the first, second and third leading jet are measured. The distributions are corrected for acceptance and migration effects back to hadron level using an iterative unfolding method. Comparison of the measured cross sections to event generators, which include part of the higher order corrections are presented.

Measurements of the associated production of a Z boson with at least one jet originating from a b quark in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 8 TeV are presented. Differential cross sections are measured with data collected by the CMS experiment corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.8 inverse femtobarns. Z bosons are reconstructed through their decays to electrons and muons. Cross sections are measured as a function of observables characterizing the kinematics of the b jet and the Z boson. Ratios of differential cross sections for the associated production with at least one b jet to the associated production with any jet are also presented. The production of a Z boson with two b jets is investigated, and differential cross sections are measured for the dijet system. Results are compared to theoretical predictions, testing two different flavour schemes for the choice of initial-state partons.

The authors present a measurement of W/Z boson + jets production and Z p{sub T} measurement in the p{bar p} collisions at the Tevatron Collider at {radical}s = 1.96 TeV. The CDF II measures W + jets production based on 320 pb{sup -1} and the D0 Run II measures Z + jets with 950 pb{sup -1} data. The measurement of Z p{sub T} is performed with D0 Run II data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 960 pb{sup -1}. The measurement of W + jets is compared to the Leading Order Alpgen + Pythia prediction and the Z + jets is compared to Sherpa and Pythia Monte Carlo. The Z p{sub T} measurement is also compared to Resbos + Photos predictions.

This work develops novel data analysis techniques enabling aspects of the Standard Model of particle physics to be tested with unprecedented precision using data from the DZero experiment at the high energy “Tevatron” proton-antiproton collider at Fermilab, Chicago. Vesterinen's measurements of the transverse momentum of Z bosons using the novel variable φ* have exposed deficiencies in the current state-of-the-art theoretical predictions for vector boson production at hadron colliders. These techniques are now being used in the experiments at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and have stimulated considerable interest in the theoretical particle physics community. Furthermore, Vesterinen's measurements of the cross sections for the production of pairs of vector bosons (WZ and ZZ) are to date the most precise ever made.