We present results of phenomenological studies for top-quark pair production at the LHC at the center of mass energy $\sqrt{ S} = 7$ TeV. The transverse momentum and rapidity distributions for final-state top quarks are calculated in perturbative QCD at approximate next-to-next-to-leading order ${ \cal O}(\alpha_s^4)$ by using methods of threshold resummation beyond the leading logarithmic accuracy. The theoretical predictions are obtained by using the computer code \textsc{ DiffTop} and are compared to recent measurements by the ATLAS and CMS collaborations. \textsc{ Difftop} can be employed in the general case of heavy-quark pair production at hadron-hadron colliders and provides a basis for applications in QCD analyses for parton distribution functions determination.
Categories: hep-ph