  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.
