D-meson reconstruction in pp collisions at $\sqrt{2}$ = 8 TeV with the ALICE experiment at LHC

The study of the production of hadrons containing heavy quarks (charm and beauty) in proton-proton (pp) collisions at LHC energies is a very important test of perturbative Quantum Chromodynamics (pQCD). In this paper, we report about the production cross section of prompt charmed $D^{*+}$ and $D^+$ mesons, measured at mid-rapidity in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s} = 8$ TeV with the ALICE detector at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The D mesons are reconstructed in their hadronic decay channels $D^{*+} \to D^0 \pi^+, D^0 \to K^- \pi^+$ and $D^+ \to K^- \pi^+ \pi^+$, and their charge conjugates. The reconstruction procedure, the raw yield extraction and the corrections applied to obtain the production cross section are presented. The measured pT differential cross sections are then compared to QCD predictions.