Yael Shadmi — Page 4

arXiv1996

Spin Correlations in Top-Quark Pair Production at $e^+e^-$ Colliders

We show that top-quark pairs are produced in an essentially unique spin configuration in polarized $e^+e^-$ colliders at all energies above the threshold region. Since the directions of the electroweak decay products of polarized top-quarks are strongly correlated to the top-quark spin axis, this unique spin configuration leads to a distinctive topology for top-quark pair events which can be used to constrain anomalous couplings to the top-quark. A significant interference effect between the {\it longitudinal} and {\it transverse} W-bosons in the decay of polarized top-quarks is also discussed. These results are obtained at leading order in perturbation theory but radiative corrections are expected to be small.

hep-ph↗

arXiv1995

Event Handedness in $e^+e^-$ Annihilation to Three Jets

We discuss rescattering effects that can be measured in $e^+e^-$ annihilation to three jets through a single gauge boson, by using triple product (``event handedness'') correlations of the $Z$ ($γ^*$) polarization with jet momenta. The gauge boson polarization may be produced either by polarized beams or through the natural polarization (left-right asymmetry) of the $Z$. QCD rescattering does not generate triple product correlations at one loop for massless quarks. We therefore calculate the QCD contribution for massive quarks, as well as the contribution of $W$ and $Z$ exchange loops for massless quarks. Due to various cancellations, the standard model predictions for triple-product correlations at the $Z$ are very small, making such measurements potentially sensitive to physics beyond the standard model. For example, the effects of a new gauge boson that couples only to baryon number may be larger than the standard model contributions; however the effects would probably still be too small to effectively constrain it.

hep-ph↗