Top quark production and properties in 7 TeV proton-proton collisions

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The top quark is the heaviest and least known particle in the quark sector. Precision measurements of top quark properties are sensitive to new physics beyond the Standard Model. With this proposal we plan to study the top quark with the data available starting in 2007 from the ATLAS detector at the LHC collider. In particular we will measure the top-pair and single-top production cross sections, the W helicity in top decays and top spin correlations. As the precision of each measurement will reach levels never attained before, each result will provide a stringent test of the Standard Model of particle physics. Top quarks are identified through the tagging of one of its decay products, the bottom quark (b-tagging). We plan to significantly contribute to this collaboration wide effort.This project includes the development of pixel detectors for the LHC upgrade. The innermost detector plays a major role in the identification of b-quarks. It will be an essential contribution for the long-term future of collider physics and might result in applications in other fields. In particular, new concepts for sensor materials and module chain powering schemes will be explored.