  Electroweak bosons produced in conjunction with jets in high-energy collider
experiments is one of the principle final-state channels that can be used to
test the accuracy of perturbative Quantum Chromodynamics calculations and to
assess the potential to uncover new physics through comparison between data and
theory. In this paper we present results for the $Z^0/\gamma^*$+jet production
cross sections at the LHC at leading and next-to-leading orders. In
proton-proton reactions we elucidate up to ${\cal O}(G_F\alpha_s^2)$ the
constraints that jet tagging via the $Z^0/\gamma^*$ decay dileptons provides on
the momentum distribution of jets. In nucleus-nucleus reactions we demonstrate
that tagged jets can probe important aspects of the dynamics of quark and gluon
propagation in hot and dense nuclear matter and characterize the properties of
the medium-induced parton showers in ways not possible with more inclusive
measurements. Finally, we present specific predictions for the anticipated
suppression of the $Z^0/\gamma^*$+jet production cross section in the
quark-gluon plasma that is expected to be created in central lead-lead
collisions at the LHC relative to the naive superposition of independent
nucleon-nucleon scatterings.
