The first measurements of the invariant differential cross sections of inclusive $\pi^0$ and $\eta$ meson production at mid-rapidity in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=0.9$ TeV and $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV are reported. The $\pi^0$ measurement covers the ranges $0.4<p_T<7$ GeV/$c$ and $0.3<p_T<25$ GeV/$c$ for these two energies, respectively. The production of $\eta$ mesons was measured at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV in the range $0.4<p_T<15$ GeV/$c$. Next-to-Leading Order perturbative QCD calculations, which are consistent with the $\pi^0$ spectrum at $\sqrt{s}=0.9$ TeV, overestimate those of $\pi^0$ and $\eta$ mesons at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV, but agree with the measured $\eta/\pi^0$ ratio at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV.
The production of a Z boson, decaying into two leptons and produced in association with one or more b jets, is studied using proton-proton collisions delivered by the LHC at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. The data were recorded in 2011 with the CMS detector and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 5 inverse femtobarns. The Z(ll) + b-jets cross sections (where ll = mu mu or ee) are measured separately for a Z boson produced with exactly one b jet and with at least two b jets. In addition, a cross section ratio is extracted for a Z boson produced with at least one b jet, relative to a Z boson produced with at least one jet. The measured cross sections are compared to various theoretical predictions, and the data favour the predictions in the five-flavour scheme, where b quarks are assumed massless. The kinematic properties of the reconstructed particles are compared with the predictions from the MADGRAPH event generator using the PYTHIA parton shower simulation.
The inclusive top quark pair ($t\bar{t}$) production cross-section $\sigma_{t\bar{t}}$ has been measured in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV and $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC, using $t\bar{t}$ events with an opposite-charge $e\mu$ pair in the final state. The measurement was performed with the 2011 7 TeV dataset corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.6 fb$^{-1}$ and the 2012 8 TeV dataset of 20.3 fb$^{-1}$. The cross-section was measured to be: $\sigma_{t\bar{t}}=182.9\pm 3.1\pm 4.2\pm 3.6 \pm 3.3$ pb ($\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV) and $\sigma_{t\bar{t}}=242.9\pm 1.7\pm 5.5\pm 5.1\pm 4.2$ pb ($\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV, updated as described in the Addendum), where the four uncertainties arise from data statistics, experimental and theoretical systematic effects, the knowledge of the integrated luminosity and of the LHC beam energy. The results are consistent with recent theoretical QCD calculations at next-to-next-to-leading order. Fiducial measurements corresponding to the experimental acceptance of the leptons are also reported, together with the ratio of cross-sections measured at the two centre-of-mass energies. The inclusive cross-section results were used to determine the top quark pole mass via the dependence of the theoretically-predicted cross-section on $m_t^{\rm pole}$, giving a result of $m_t^{\rm pole}=172.9^{+2.5}_{-2.6}$ GeV. By looking for an excess of $t\bar{t}$ production with respect to the QCD prediction, the results were also used to place limits on the pair-production of supersymmetric top squarks $\tilde{t}_1$ with masses close to the top quark mass decaying via $\tilde{t}_1\rightarrow t\tilde{\chi}^0_1$ to predominantly right-handed top quarks and a light neutralino $\tilde{\chi}_0^1$, the lightest supersymmetric particle. Top squarks with masses between the top quark mass and 177 GeV are excluded at the 95% confidence level.
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