Measurement of D^(*) meson production cross sections in pp collisions at sqrt{s}=7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The production of the D*+-, D+- and Ds+- charm mesons have been measured with the ATLAS detector in pp collisions at sqrt{s}=7 TeV using an integrated luminosity of 1.1 nb^{-1}. The charmed mesons have been reconstructed in the range of transverse momentum p_T(D^(*))>3.5 GeV and pseudorapidity |\eta(D^(*))|<2.1. The differential cross sections as a function of transverse momentum and pseudorapidity were measured for D*+- and D+- production. The NLO QCD predictions are consistent with the data in the visible kinematic region within the large theoretical uncertainties. Using the visible D^(*) cross sections and an extrapolation to the full kinematic phase space, the total cross sections for D^(*) meson production in charm hadronisation, the strangeness-suppression factor in charm fragmentation, the fraction of D mesons produced in a vector state, and the total cross section of charm production at LHC were calculated.