Top quark spin correlations at hadron colliders: Predictions at next-to-leading order QCD

The collider experiments at the Tevatron and the LHC will allow for detailed investigations of the properties of the top quark. This requires precise predictions of the hadronic production of $t\bar t$ pairs and of their subsequent decays. In this Letter we present for the reactions $p {\bar p}, p p \to t{\bar t} + X \to \ell^+\ell'^-X$ the first calculation of the dilepton angular distribution at next-to-leading order (NLO) in the QCD coupling, keeping the full dependence on the spins of the intermediate $t\bar{t}$ state. The angular distribution reflects the degree of correlation of the $t$ and $\bar t$ spins which we determine for different choices of $t$ and $\bar t$ spin bases. In the case of the Tevatron, the QCD corrections are sizeable, and the distribution is quite sensitive to the parton content of the proton.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figure

Top Quark Pair Production and Decay including Spin Effects at Hadron Colliders: Predictions at NLO QCD

Top quark-antiquark ($t\bar t$) pairs will be produced copiously at the Tevatron collider and in huge numbers at the LHC. This will make possible detailed investigations of the properties and interactions of this quark flavor. The analysis and interpretation of future data requires precise predictions of the hadronic production of $t\bar t$ pairs and of their subsequent decays. In this talk the reactions $p {\bar p}, p p \to t{\bar t} + X \to l^+ l'^- + X$ are considered and results are presented of our calculation of the dilepton angular distribution at next-to-leading order QCD, keeping the full dependence on the spins of the intermediate $t\bar{t}$ state. The angular distribution is determined for different choices of reference axes that can be identified with the $t$ and $\bar t$ spin axes. While the QCD corrections to the leading-order distribution turn out to be small in the case of the LHC, we find them to be sizeable in the case of the Tevatron and find, moreover, the angular distribution to be sensitive to the parton content of the proton.Comment: Talk given at 3rd Circum-Pan-Pacific Symposium on "High Energy Spin Physics", Beijing, China, 8-13, 200