Observation of double charm production involving open charm in pp collisions at $ \sqrt {s} = {7}\;{\text{TeV}} $

A bstract The production of J/ψ mesons accompanied by open charm, and of pairs of open charm hadrons are observed in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV using an integrated luminosity of 355 pb −1 collected with the LHCb detector. Model independent measurements of absolute cross-sections are given together with ratios to the measured J/ψ and open charm cross-sections. The properties of these events are studied and compared to theoretical predictions.