The production of Z bosons in pPb collisions at √sNN = 5.02TeV is studied by the CMS experiment via the electron and muon decay channels. The inclusive cross section is compared to pp collision predictions, and found to scale with the number of elementary nucleon-nucleon collisions. The differential cross sections as a function of the Z boson rapidity and transverse momentum are measured. Though they are found to be consistent within uncertainty with theoretical predictions both with and without nuclear effects, the forward-backward asymmetry suggests the presence of nuclear effects at large rapidities. These results provide new data for constraining nuclear parton distribution functions.

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.

This volume gathers the content of the courses held at the Third IDPASC School, which took place in San Martiño Pinario, Hospederia and Seminario Maior, in the city of Santiago de Compostela, Galiza, Spain, from January 21st to February 2nd, 2013. This school is the annual joint program of the International Doctorate Network in Particle Physics, Astrophysics, and Cosmology (IDPASC). The purpose of the school series is to present doctoral students from different universities and laboratories in Europe and beyond with a broad range of the latest results and current state of the art in the fields of Particle Physics, Astrophysics, and Cosmology, and to further introduce them to both the questions now posed by the potentials of physics and to challenges connected with current and future experiments – in particular, with the newly available energy ranges. Following these guidelines, the content of this third edition of the IDPASC School was jointly planned by the Academic Council and by the network’s International Committee, whose members ensure every year its timely formulation, keeping up with the constant evolution of these fields. The program covers a balanced range of the latest developments in these fields worldwide, with courses offered by internationally acknowledged physicists on the Basic Features of Hadronic Processes, Quantum Chromodynamics, Physics and Technology of ALICE, LHCb Physics-Parity Violation, the Higgs System in and beyond the Standard Model, Higgs Searches at the LHC, Theory and Experiments with Cosmic Rays, Numerical Methods and Data Analysis in Particle Physics, Theoretical Cosmology, and AdS/CFT Correspondence. Most of these courses were complemented by practical and discussion sessions.

The search for the production of the Standard Model Z boson in association with a W boson is motivated and discussed. This is performed using 4.3 fb−1 of Tevatron Run II data collected with the CDF detector in (square root)s = 1.96 TeV proton anti-proton collisions. This is a signature-based analysis where the W boson decays semileptonically into a high-P{sub T} electron or muon plus a neutrino, and where the Z boson decays into two b quark jets (b-jets). We increase the signal-to-background ratio by identifying the b-quarks in the jets with a new neural network-based algorithm. Another neural network then uses kinematic information to distinguish WZ to further increase the signal-to-background ratio. Since our sensitivity is still not enough to achieve an observation, we set a 95% Confidence Level upper limit on the product of the WZ production cross section and its branching fraction to the decay products specified above, and express it as a ratio to the theoretical Standard Model prediction. The resulting limit is 3.9 x SM (3.9 x SM expected).