Effects of new neutral currents at linear electron-positron colliders

Effects that are induced by contact four-fermion interactions in the processes e ⁺ e ^? → μ ⁺ μ ^?, $\bar bb$ , and $\bar cc$ at $\sqrt s = 0.5$ TeV linear electron-positron colliders are investigated for the case of longitudinally polarized initial beams. This analysis employs new integrated observables constructed from the polarized cross sections for the scattering of final fermions into the forward (σ _F) and the backward (σ _B) hemisphere in such a way that they single out the helicity cross sections for the processes in question. This property of the observables makes it possible to perform, in the most general form, a model-independent analysis of contact four-fermion interactions and to set constraints on their parameters. It is also shown that the sensitivity of new polarization observables to contact interactions is noticeably higher than the corresponding sensitivity of canonical observables like σ, A _FB, A _LR, and A _LR,FB.