Abstract:
A measurement for inclusive 2- and 3-jet events of the azimuthal correlation between the two jets with the largest transverse momenta, \(\Delta {\varphi }_{12}\), is presented. The measurement considers events where the two leading jets are nearly collinear (“back-to-back”) in the transverse plane and is performed for several ranges of the leading jet transverse momentum. Proton-proton collision data collected with the CMS experiment at a center-of-mass energy of \(13\phantom{\rule{0.166667em}{0ex}}\text{Te}\phantom{\rule{0.333333em}{0ex}}\) and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of \(35.9\phantom{\rule{0.166667em}{0ex}}{\text{fb}}^{-1}\) are used. Predictions based on calculations using matrix elements at leading-order and next-to-leading-order accuracy in perturbative quantum chromodynamics supplemented with leading-log parton showers and hadronization are generally in agreement with the measurements. Discrepancies between the measurement and theoretical predictions are as large as 15%, mainly in the region \({177}^{\circ }<\Delta {\varphi }_{12}<{180}^{\circ }\). The 2- and 3-jet measurements are not simultaneously described by any of models.