Spin Correlations in Top Quark Pair Production Near Threshold at the e^＋e^- Linear Collider

We investigate the spin correlations in top quark pair production near the threshold at the e^ e^- linear collider. Comparing with the results above the threshold region, we find that near the threshold region the off-diagonal basis, the optimized decomposition of the top quark spins above the threshold region, does not exist, and the beamline basis is the optimal basis, in which there are the dominant spin components: the up-down (UD) component for e^-le^ scattering and the down-up (DU) component for eR^-e^ scattering can make up more than 50% of the total cross section,respectively.     

Top quark production in e^+ e^- annihilation

We analyze the four-fermion reactions containing a single top quark and three other fermions, a possible decay product of the resonant anti-top quark, in the final state. This allows us to estimate the contribution of the nonresonant Feynman graphs and effects related to the off mass shell production and decay of the top quark. We test the sensitivity of the total cross section at center of mass energies in the threshold region and far above it to the variation of the top quark width. We perform the calculation in an arbitrary linear gauge in the framework of the standard model and discuss the important issue of gauge symmetry violation by a constant top quark width. Received: 21 February 2001 / Revised version: 27 March 2001 / Published online: 18 May 2001     

The total cross section for the production of heavy quarks in hadronic collisions

We present the results of a full calculation of the QCD O(α_S³) radiative corrections to the total cross section for the production of a heavy quark pair. We find large contributions for parton subenergies near threshold and well above threshold. The implications for the production of top and bottom quarks at collider energies are discussed.     

Supersymmetric correction to top quark pair production near threshold

We studied the leading supersymmetric contribution to top–antitop threshold production using the NRQCD framework. The one-loop matching to the potential and the Wilson coefficient of the leading ³S₁ production current were considered. We point out that the leading correction to the potential is zero due to SU(3)_c gauge invariance. This is true in general for any new physics that enters above the electroweak scale. The shape of the top quark pair production cross section is therefore almost unaffected near threshold, allowing a precise determination of the top quark mass based on the Standard Model calculations. The supersymmetric correction to the Wilson coefficient c₁ of the production current decouples for heavy super particles. Its contribution is smaller than the Standard Model next-to-next-leading-log results.     

Top quark polarization as a probe of $$t\bar t$$ threshold dynamics

We study the spin properties of top quarks produced in collisions of polarized photons in the threshold region. For a relatively heavy top quark the influence of non-perturbative effects is small and its polarization parameters can be predicted in perturbative QCD. The measurements of the top polarization may allow a novel test of QCD in the system. In particular, they may provide a new way to determine the precise value of _s and to study the properties of the top quark.     

Top quark physics at hadron colliders

The top quark, discovered at the FERMILAB TEVATRON collider in 1995, is the heaviest known elementary particle. Today, ten years later, still relatively little is known about its properties. The strong and weak interactions of the top quark are not nearly as well studied as those of the other quarks and leptons. The strong interaction is most directly measured in top quark pair production. The weak interaction is measured in top quark decay and single top quark production, which remains thus far unobserved. The large top-quark mass of about 175 GeV/c² suggests that it may play a special role in nature. It behaves differently from all other quarks due to its large mass and its correspondingly short lifetime. The top quark decays before it hadronises, passing its spin information on to its decay products. Therefore, it is possible to measure observables that depend on the top quark spin, providing a unique environment for tests of the Standard Model and for searches for physics beyond the Standard Model. This report summarises the latest measurements and studies of top quark properties and rare decays from the TEVATRON in Run II. With more than 1 fb^-1 of luminosity delivered to each experiment, CDF and DO, top quark physics at the TEVATRON is at a turning point from first studies to precision measurements with sensitivity to new physics. An outlook onto top quark physics at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, planned to begin operation in the year 2007, is also given.     

Color sextet scalars in early LHC experiments

We explore the potential for discovery of an exotic color sextet scalar in same-sign top quark pair production in early running at the LHC. We present the first phenomenological analysis at colliders of color sextet scalars with full top quark spin correlations included. We demonstrate that one can measure the scalar mass, the top quark polarization, and confirm the scalar resonance with 1 fb?1 of integrated luminosity. The top quark polarization can distinguish gauge triplet and singlet scalars.     

Azimuthal angular dependence of decay lepton in e^+ e^- \to t \bar{t}

We discuss top quark production and its subsequent decay as used for searching new physics at lepton colliders. The angular dependence of the decay leptons is calculated including both QCD corrections and anomalous couplings. The off-diagonal spin basis for the top and anti-top quarks is shown to be useful to probe the anomalous couplings. Received: 11 August 2000 / Published online: 27 November 2000     

Top quark production at hadron colliders: Some useful formulae

We present compact expressions for the amplitudes describing production and decay of heavy top-anti-top quark pairs in hadron-hadron collisions. We include both the effects of a finite width of the W particles in the top quark decay and those of a non-zerob quark mass, as well as the complete spin correlations in the decays. Also a very compact analytical result for the width of the top quark including all these effects is given.     

Is There Really a Spin Crisis?

The matrix element of quark axial vector current is shown to be different from the nonrelativistic quark spin sum for a nucleon at rest. The nucleon spin content discovered in polarized deep inelastic scattering is shown to be accommodated in a constituent quark model with 15% sea quark component mixing. The relativistic correction and sea quark pair excitation inherently related to quark axial vector current reduce the nucleon axial charge and this reduction is compensated by the relativistic quark orbital angular momentum exactly and in turn keeps the nucleon spin 1/2 untouched. Nucleon tensor charge has similar but smaller relativistic and sea quark pair excitation reduction.     

Top quark production asymmetries A(FB)t and A(FB)ℓ

A large forward-backward asymmetry is seen in both the top quark rapidity distribution A(FB)(t) and in the rapidity distribution of charged leptons A(FB)(?) from top quarks produced at the Tevatron. We study the kinematic and dynamic aspects of the relationship of the two observables arising from the spin correlation between the charged lepton and the top quark with different polarization states. We emphasize the value of both measurements, and we conclude that a new physics model which produces more right-handed than left-handed top quarks is favored by the present data.     

裂变碎块角分布与鞍点结构

从Jacob和Wick所推导的具有自旋粒子的散射矩阵元一般表示式出发,采用适当近似后,分析了中子引起Th²³⁰,Th²³²,U²³⁴,U²³⁶,U²³⁸裂变的阈能附近碎块角分布的实验数据。分析结果说明:1)阈能附近碎块角分布可以用裂变是通过鞍点上少数转动带(每一带具有确定的宇称)来解释;2)这些转动带与Nilsson的渐近能谱图所预言的基本上一致。同时利用对称裂变鞍点比非对称裂变鞍点高的观点,讨论了裂变碎块角分布各向异性与质量比之间的关系。     

Top quark production from black holes at the CERN LHC

LHC is expected to be a top quark factory. If the fundamental Planck scale is near a TeV, then we also expect the top quarks to be produced from black holes via Hawking radiation. In this Letter we calculate the cross sections for top quark production from black holes at the LHC and compare it with the direct top quark cross section via parton fusion processes at next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO). We find that the top quark production from black holes can be larger or smaller than the pQCD predictions at NNLO depending upon the Planck mass and black hole mass. Hence the observation of very high rates for massive particle production (top quarks, Higgs or supersymmetry) at the LHC may be an useful signature for black hole production.     

Status and prospects of top-quark physics

The top quark is the heaviest elementary particle observed to date. Its large mass of about 173 GeV/c² makes the top quark act differently than other elementary fermions, as it decays before it hadronises, passing its spin information on to its decay products. In addition, the top quark plays an important role in higher order loop corrections to standard model processes, which makes the top-quark mass a crucial parameter for precision tests of the electroweak theory. The top quark is also a powerful probe for new phenomena beyond the standard model.During the time of discovery at the Tevatron in 1995 only a few properties of the top quark could be measured. In recent years, since the start of Tevatron Run II, the field of top-quark physics has changed and entered a precision era. This report summarises the latest measurements and studies of top-quark properties and gives prospects for future measurements at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).     

Spin Dependent Quark Forces and the Spin Content of the Nucleon

The spin crisis of the nucleon is that the quark spin contribution is only a small fraction of the nucleon spin. A relativistic Dirac equation approach is followed assuming three low mass current quarks in the nucleon described by a (1/2⁺)³ configuration. If the lower component contribution to the normalization of the quark wave function is about 0.18, then the axial charge of the nucleon can be reproduced. However including the same lower component to every quark wave function is not enough to resolve the spin crisis. The net u quark spin z component is predicted as 1.0 and the net d quark spin z component is predicted as –0.25, both in disagreement with experiment. These predictions can be brought into agreement with experiment if flavor independent but spin dependent forces are assumed between the quarks. The strength of the spin dependent force found by empirically fitting the nucleon spin data is shown to be comparable to the spin dependence that can explain the -nucleon mass difference. The spin content of the ⁺ is then predicted using the interactions that reproduce the spin content of the proton.     

Flavor symmetry,EMC results and the spin content of the proton

The analysis of the EMC result on the quark contribution to the spin of the proton has caused considerable confusion and is unnecessarily complicated because of the completely unjustified and incorrect use of SU(3) flavor symmetry to provide input on the proton wave function from hyperon decays. There is no reliable method for obtaining information on the proton spin structure from data on the couplings of currents to hyperons. Interesting peculiar results obtained without use of SU(3) and hyperon data show the crucial point to be the apparent contradiction between the contribution of valence u quarks to the proton spin observed in the axial vector contribution to nucleon beta decay and the failure of this contribution to appear in the conventional quark-parton interpretation of the EMC results. When input from hyperon data is not used this paradox can be resolved without requiring the quark contribution to the proton spin to be near zero, but it can be large only if it is due to the strange quarks, with the nonstrange quark contribution opposite to the spin of the proton.     

Momentum distributions int\bar t production and decay near threshold

We apply the Green function formalism for \(t - \bar t\) production and decay near threshold in a study of the effects due to the momentum dependent width for such a system. We point out that these effects are likely to be much smaller than expected from the reduction of the available phase space. The Lippmann-Schwinger equation for the QCD chromostatic potential is solved numerically forS partial wave. We compare the results on the total cross section, top quark intrinsic momentum distributions and on the energy spectra ofW bosons from top quark decays with those obtained for the constant width.     

Top quark polarization in polarized e+e− annihilation near threshold

Top quark polarization in e⁺e^{t -} annihilation into tt? is calculated for linearly polarized beams. The Green function formalism is applied to this reaction near threshold. The Lippmann—Schwinger equations for the S-wave and P-wave Green functions are solved numerically for the QCD chromostatic potential given by the two-loop formula for large momentum transfer and Richardson’s ansatz for intermediate and small momenta. S- P— wave interference contributes to all components of the top quark polarization vector. Rescattering of the decay products is considered. The mean values 〈nl〉 of the charged lepton four-momentum projections on appropriately chosen directions n in semileptonic top decays are proposed as experimentally observable quantities sensitive to top quark polarization. The results for 〈nl〉 are obtained including S- P— wave interference and rescattering of the decay products. It is demonstrated that for the longitudinally polarized electron beam a highly polarized sample of top quarks can be produced.