Hard production of a Z boson plus heavy flavor jets at LHC and the intrinsic charm content of a proton

The cross section of associated production of a Z boson with heavy flavor jets in \(pp\) collisions is calculated using the SHERPA Monte Carlo generator and the analytical combined QCD approach based on kt-factorization at small x and conventional collinear QCD at large x. A satisfactory description of the ATLAS and CMS data on the \(p_T\) spectra of Z bosons and c-jets in the whole rapidity, y, region is shown. Searching for the intrinsic charm (IC) contribution in these processes, which could be visible at large y > 1.5, we study observables very sensitive to non-zero IC contributions and less affected by theoretical QCD scale uncertainties. One of such observables is the so-called double ratio: the ratio of the differential cross section of Z + c production in the central region of |y| < 1.5 and in the forward region 1.5 < |y| < 2.5, divided by the same ratio for Z + b production. These observables could be more promising for the search of IC at LHC as compared to the observables considered earlier.