This thesis presents the first experimental calibration of the top-quark Monte-Carlo mass. It also provides the top-quark mass-independent and most precise top-quark pair production cross-section measurement to date. The most precise measurements of the top-quark mass obtain the top-quark mass parameter (Monte-Carlo mass) used in simulations, which are partially based on heuristic models. Its interpretation in terms of mass parameters used in theoretical calculations, e.g. a running or a pole mass, has been a long-standing open problem with far-reaching implications beyond particle physics, even affecting conclusions on the stability of the vacuum state of our universe. In this thesis, this problem is solved experimentally in three steps using data obtained with the compact muon solenoid (CMS) detector. The most precise top-quark pair production cross-section measurements to date are performed. The Monte-Carlo mass is determined and a new method for extracting the top-quark mass from theoretical calculations is presented. Lastly, the top-quark production cross-sections are obtained – for the first time – without residual dependence on the top-quark mass, are interpreted using theoretical calculations to determine the top-quark running- and pole mass with unprecedented precision, and are fully consistently compared with the simultaneously obtained top-quark Monte-Carlo mass.

^ 74 GeV and |y| 2.4; the b jets must contain a B hadron. The measurement has significant statistics up to p T ∼ O(TeV). Advanced methods of unfolding are performed to extract the signal. It is found that fixed-order calculations with underlying event describe the measurement well.

This thesis describes one of the first measurements at the CERN LHC -- the world's largest and highest-energy particle collider. The CMS collision data is analyzed, and results in the first measurement of the inclusive b cross section using semileptonic decays at a center of mass energy of 7 TeV.

Before any kind of new physics discovery could be made at the LHC, a precise understanding and measurement of the Standard Model of particle physics' processes was necessary. The book provides an introduction to top quark production in the context of the Standard Model and presents two such precise measurements of the production of top quark pairs in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV that were observed with the ATLAS Experiment at the LHC. The presented measurements focus on events with one charged lepton, missing transverse energy and jets. Using novel and advanced analysis techniques as well as a good understanding of the detector, they constitute the most precise measurements of the quantity at that time.