Next-to-leading order QCD predictions forW+1jet andW+2jet production with at least onebjet at the 7 TeV LHC

Abstract

We provide predictions for the production of a $W$ boson in association with up to two jets including at least one $b$ jet at next-to-leading order (NLO) in QCD at the CERN Large Hadron Collider with 7 TeV center-of-mass energy. Both exclusive and inclusive event cross section and $b$-jet cross sections are presented. The calculation is performed consistently in the five-flavor-number scheme where both $q{\overline{q}}^{\ensuremath{'}}$ and $bq$ ($q\ensuremath{\ne}b$) initiated parton level processes are included at NLO QCD. We study the residual theoretical uncertainties of the NLO predictions due to the renormalization and factorization scale dependence, to the uncertainty from the parton distribution functions, and to the values of ${\ensuremath{\alpha}}_{s}$ and the bottom-quark mass.