Measurement of D-meson production at mid-rapidity in pp collisions at $${\sqrt{s}=7}$$ s = 7 TeV

The production cross sections for prompt charmed mesons $$\mathrm{D^0}$$ , $$\mathrm{D^+}$$ , $$\mathrm{D^{*+}}$$ and $$\mathrm{D_s^+}$$ were measured at mid-rapidity in proton–proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy $$\sqrt{s}=7~{\mathrm {TeV}}$$ with the ALICE detector at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). D mesons were reconstructed from their decays $$\mathrm{D}^0 \rightarrow \mathrm{K}^-\pi ^+$$ , $$\mathrm{D}^+\rightarrow \mathrm{K}^-\pi ^+\pi ^+$$ , $$\mathrm{D}^{*+} \rightarrow \mathrm{D}^0 \pi ^+$$ , $$\mathrm{D_s^{+}\rightarrow \phi \pi ^+\rightarrow K^-K^+\pi ^+}$$ , and their charge conjugates.With respect to previous measurements in the same rapidity region, the coverage in transverse momentum ( $$p_\mathrm{T}$$ ) is extended and the uncertainties are reduced by a factor of about two. The accuracy on the estimated total $$\mathrm{c}{\overline{\mathrm{c}}}$$ production cross section is likewise improved. The measured $$p_\mathrm{T}$$ -differential cross sections are compared with the results of three perturbative QCD calculations.