Mixed QCD and weak corrections to top quark pair production at hadron colliders

The order $\alpha_s^2 \alpha$ mixed QCD and weak corrections to top quark pair production by quark antiquark annihilation are computed, keeping the full dependence on the $t$ and $\bar t$ spins. We determine the contributions to the cross section and to single and double top spin asymmetries at the parton level. These results are necessary ingredients for precise standard model predictions of top quark observables, in particular of top spin-induced parity-violating angular correlations and asymmetries at hadron colliders.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figure

CP Violation and the Width Z→bbˉZ\rightarrow b\bar{b}

We discuss the effect of CP-violating $Zb\bar{b}$, $Zb\bar{b}G$ and $Zb\bar{b}\gamma$ couplings on the width $\Gamma(Z\rightarrow b\bar bX)$. The presence of such couplings leads in a natural way to an increase of this width relative to the prediction of the standard model. Various strategies of a direct search for such CP-violating couplings by using CP-odd observables are outlined. The number of $Z$ bosons required to obtain significant information on the couplings in this way is well within the reach of present LEP experiments.Comment: 18 pages, LaTeX, no figure

Flavour Dynamics with General Scalar Fields

We consider a spontaneously broken gauge theory based on the standard model (SM) group G = SU(2) x U(1) with scalar fields that carry arbitrary representations of G, and we investigate some general properties of the charged and neutral current involving these fields. In particular we derive the conditions for having real or complex couplings of the Z boson to two different neutral or charged scalar fields, and for the existence of CP-violating Z-scalar-scalar couplings. Moreover, we study models with the same fermion content as in the SM, with one SU(2) Higgs singlet, and an arbitrary number of Higgs doublets. We show that the structure of the Z-Higgs boson and of the Yukawa couplings in these models can be such that CP-violating Zb{\bar b}G form factors which conserve chirality are induced at the one-loop level.Comment: 35 pages, LaTe

Chiral-invariant CP-violating Effective Interactions in Z Decays to three Jets

Tests of CP violation by appropriate momentum correlations in $Z\to 3$ jets and in particular in $Z\to b\bar bX$ probe CP-violating effective couplings -- that manifest themselves as form factors -- which conserve the quark chirality and quark flavour. By giving two examples we show that such couplings can be induced at one-loop order in extensions of the Standard Model with CP violation beyond the Kobayashi-Maskawa phase. In one of the models we compute the chirality-conserving part of the CP-violating $Zb{\bar b}$-gluon amplitude for massless $b$ quarks, determine the resulting effective dimension $d=6$ couplings in the local limit, and discuss the possible size of the effects. Finally we show that in models with excited quarks the chiral-invariant CP-violating effective interactions could be quite large if appropriate couplings are of a size characteristic of a strong interactionComment: 14 pages, LaTeX with 4 postscript figures, epsf macro include

Effects of Higgs sector CP violation in top-quark pair production at the LHC

A striking manifestation of CP violation in the electroweak symmetry breaking sector would be the existence of neutral Higgs boson(s) with undefined CP parity. We analyse signatures of such a boson, with a mass of about 300 GeV or larger, produced in high energy proton-proton collisions at LHC energies in its top-quark antitop-quark decay channel. The large irreducible $t\bar t$ background is taken into account. We propose, both for the dilepton and the lepton + jets decay channels of $t\bar t$, several correlations and asymmetries with which (Higgs sector) CP violation can be traced. We show that for judiciously chosen cuts on the $t\bar t$ invariant mass these CP observables yield, for an LHC integrated luminosity of 100 $\rm{fb}^{-1}$, statistically significant signals for a range of Higgs boson masses and Yukawa couplings.Comment: 36 pages, 25 Postscript figure

Weak dipole moment of τ\tau in e+e−e^+e^- collisions with longitudinally polarized electrons

It is pointed out that certain CP-odd momentum correlations in the production and subsequent decay of tau pairs in $e^+e^-$ collisions get enhanced when the $e^-$ is longitudinally polarized. Analytic expressions for these correlations are obtained for the single-pion decay mode of $\tau$ when $\tau^+\tau^-$ have a ``weak" dipole form factor (WDFF) coupling to $Z$ . For $e^+e^-$ collisions at the $Z$ peak, a sensitivity of about 1-5$\times 10^{-17}$\mbox{$e$ cm} for the $\tau$ WDFF can be reached using a {\em single} $\tau^+\tau^-$ decay channel, with $10^6\, Z$'s likely to be available at the SLC at Stanford with $e^-$ polarization of 62\%-75\%.Comment: 9 pages, Latex, PRL-TH-93/17 (Revised

Decays of polarized top quarks to lepton, neutrino and jets at NLO QCD

We compute the differential and total rate of the semileptonic decay of polarized top-quarks $t\to \ell \nu_\ell + b{\rm jet} + {\rm jet}$ at next-to-leading order (NLO) in the QCD coupling with an off-shell intermediate $W$ boson. We present several normalized distributions, in particular those that reflect the $t$-spin analyzing powers of the lepton, the b-jet and the $W^+$ boson at LO and NLO QCD.Comment: Latex, 22 page

QCD corrections to top quark spin correlations at hadron colliders

Future hadron collider experiments will allow for a detailed investigation of $t\bar{t}$ spin correlation effects. In this talk, recent progress in the theoretical description of these effects is reported. In particular, next-to-leading order results for the $t\bar t$ spin correlations in $q\bar{q}\to t\bar{t}X$ are presented, using various spin quantization axes.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures. Talk presented at the conference `QCD 00', Montpellier, 6-13th July 2000, to appear in the proceeding

CP Violation Beyond the Standard Model and Tau Pair Production in e+e−e^+ e^- Collisions

We show that the CP-violating dipole form factors of the tau lepton can be of the order of $\alpha/\pi$ in units of the length scale set by the inverse $Z$ boson mass. We propose a few observables which are sensitive to these form factors at LEP2 and higher e^+e^- collision energies.Comment: 11 pages LaTeX + 2 figure