A measurement is presented of the production of Z bosons that decay into two electrons or muons in association with jets, in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The data were recorded by the CMS Collaboration at the LHC with an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb$^{-1}$. The differential cross sections are measured as a function of the transverse momentum ($p_\mathrm{T}$) of the Z boson and the transverse momentum and rapidities of the five jets with largest $p_\mathrm{T}$. The jet multiplicity distribution is measured for up to eight jets. The hadronic activity in the events is estimated using the scalar sum of the $p_\mathrm{T}$ of all the jets. All measurements are unfolded to the stable particle-level and compared with predictions from various Monte Carlo event generators, as well as with expectations at leading and next-to-leading orders in perturbative quantum chromodynamics.

Four-lepton production in proton-proton collisions, pp to (Z/gamma*)(Z/gamma*) to l+l-l'+l'-, where l, l' = e or mu, is studied at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV with the CMS detector at the LHC. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 2.6 inverse femtobarns. The ZZ production cross section, sigma(pp to ZZ) = 14.6 +1.9/-1.8 (stat) +0.5/-0.3 (syst) +/- 0.2 (theo) +/- 0.4 (lumi) pb, is measured for events with two opposite-sign, same-flavor lepton pairs produced in the mass region 60 < m[l+l-], m[l'+l'-] < 120 GeV. The Z boson branching fraction to four leptons is measured to be B(Z to l+l-l'+l'-) = 4.9 +0.8/-0.7 (stat) +0.3/-0.2 (syst) +0.2/-0.1 (theo) +/- 0.1 (lumi) x E-6 for the four-lepton invariant mass in the range 80 < m[l+l-l'+l'-] < 100 GeV and dilepton mass m[l+l-] > 4 GeV for all opposite-sign, same-flavor lepton pairs. The results are in agreement with standard model predictions.

Measurements are presented of the cross section for the production of at least four jets, of which at least two originate from b quarks, in proton-proton collisions. Data collected with the CMS detector at the LHC at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV are used, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3 inverse picobarns. The cross section is measured as a function of the jet transverse momentum for pt > 20 GeV, and of the jet pseudorapidity for abs(eta) < 2.4 (b jets), 4.7 (untagged jets). The correlations in azimuthal angle and pt between the jets are also studied. The inclusive cross section is measured to be sigma(pp to 2 b + 2 j + X) = 69 +/- 3 (stat) +/- 24 (syst) nb. The eta and pt distributions of the four jets and the correlations between them are well reproduced by event generators that combine perturbative QCD calculations at next-to-leading-order accuracy with contributions from parton showers and multiparton interactions.

The production cross section of a W boson in association with two b jets is measured using a sample of proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV collected by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 19.8 inverse femtobarns. The W bosons are reconstructed via their leptonic decays, W to l nu, where l = mu or e. The fiducial region studied contains exactly one lepton with transverse momentum pt[l] > 30 GeV and pseudorapidity abs(eta[l]) < 2.1, with exactly two b jets with pt > 25 GeV and abs(eta) < 2.4 and no other jets with pt > 25 GeV and abs(eta) < 4.7. The cross section is measured to be sigma(pp to W (l nu)+ bb-bar) = 0.64 +/- 0.03 (stat) +/- 0.10 (syst) +/- 0.06 (theo) +/- 0.02 (lumi) pb, in agreement with standard model predictions.

The WZ production cross section in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 13 TeV is measured with the CMS experiment at the LHC using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2.3 inverse femtobarns. The measurement is performed in the leptonic decay modes WZ to l nu l' l', where l, l'= e, mu. The measured cross section for the range 60 < m[l'l'] < 120 GeV is sigma(pp to WZ) = 39.9 +/- 3.2 (stat) +2.9/-3.1 (syst) +/- 0.4 (theo) +/- 1.3 (lumi) pb, consistent with the standard model prediction.

A measurement of electroweak-induced production of W gamma and two jets is performed, where the W boson decays leptonically. The data used in the analysis correspond to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 inverse femtobarns collected by the CMS experiment in sqrt(s) = 8 TeV proton-proton collisions produced at the LHC. Candidate events are selected with exactly one muon or electron, missing transverse momentum, one photon, and two jets with large rapidity separation. An excess over the hypothesis of the standard model without electroweak production of W gamma with two jets is observed with a significance of 2.7 standard deviations. The cross section measured in the fiducial region is 10.8 +/- 4.1 (stat) +/- 3.4 (syst) +/- 0.3 (lumi) fb, which is consistent with the standard model electroweak predictions. The total cross section for W gamma production in association with 2 jets in the same fiducial region is measured to be 23.2 +/- 4.3 (stat) +/- 1.7 (syst) +/- 0.6 (lumi) fb, which is consistent with the standard model prediction from the combination of electroweak- and quantum chromodynamics-induced processes. No deviations are observed from the standard model predictions and experimental limits on anomalous quartic gauge couplings f[M, 0-7] / Lambda^4, f[T, 0-2] / Lambda^4, and f[T, 5-7] / Lambda^4 are set at 95% confidence level.

Cross sections for the production of a Z boson in association with jets in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of sqrt(s) = 8 TeV are measured using a data sample collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC corresponding to 19.6 inverse femtobarns. Differential cross sections are presented as functions of up to three observables that describe the jet kinematics and the jet activity. Correlations between the azimuthal directions and the rapidities of the jets and the Z boson are studied in detail. The predictions of a number of multileg generators with leading or next-to-leading order accuracy are compared with the measurements. The comparison shows the importance of including multi-parton contributions in the matrix elements and the improvement in the predictions when next-to-leading order terms are included.

The differential cross sections for inclusive production of B+ hadrons are measured as a function of the B+ transverse momentum pT[B] and rapidity y[B] in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, using data collected by the CMS experiment that correspond to an integrated luminosity of 49.4 inverse picobarns. The measurement uses the exclusive decay channel B+ to J/psi K+, with J/psi mesons that decay to a pair of muons. The results show a reasonable agreement with theoretical calculations within the uncertainties.

The WZ production cross section is measured by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC in proton-proton collision data samples corresponding to integrated luminosities of 4.9 inverse femtobarns collected at sqrt(s)= 7 TeV, and 19.6 inverse femtobarns at sqrt(s)= 8 TeV. The measurements are performed using the fully-leptonic WZ decay modes with electrons and muons in the final state. The measured cross sections for 71 < m[Z] < 111 GeV are sigma(pp to WZ; sqrt(s)= 7 TeV) = 20.14 +/- 1.32 (stat) +/- 1.13 (syst) +/- 0.44 (lumi) pb and sigma(pp to WZ; sqrt(s)= 8 TeV) = 24.09 +/- 0.87 (stat) +/- 1.62 (syst) +/- 0.63 (lumi) pb. Differential cross sections with respect to the Z boson pt, the leading jet pt, and the number of jets are obtained using the sqrt(s)= 8 TeV data. The results are consistent with standard model predictions and constraints on anomalous triple gauge couplings are obtained.

Differential cross sections for a W boson produced in association with jets are measured in a data sample of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV recorded with the CMS detector and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.6 inverse femtobarns. The W bosons are identified through their decay mode W to mu nu. The cross sections are reported as functions of jet multiplicity, transverse momenta, and the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta (HT) for different jet multiplicities. Distributions of the angular correlations between the jets and the muon are examined, as well as the average number of jets as a function of HT and as a function of angular variables. The measured differential cross sections are compared with tree-level and higher-order recent event generators, as well as next-to-leading-order and next-to-next-to-leading-order theoretical predictions. The agreement of the generators with the measurements builds confidence in their use for the simulation of W+jets background processes in searches for new physics at the LHC.