O(alpha_s) Longitudinal Spin Polarization in Heavy-Quark Production

Abstract

The massive one-loop {\it QCD} corrections to the production cross sections of We present the massive one-loop {\it QCD} corrections to the production cross sections of polarized quarks in the annihilation process $e^{+}{e}^{-}\to q\bar{q}(g)$ for bottom, top, and charm quarks. From the full analytical expressions for the production cross sections, Schwinger-type interpolation formulae for all parity-parity combinations $(VV,VA,AA)$ are derived. The parity-odd interpolation formula contains the correct limit for vanishing quark masses taking into account a residual coupling of left- and right-chiral states in the massless theory. Numerical results for the total cross section and the longitudinal spin polarization demonstrate the accuracy of the interpolation formulae.

Comments: 13 pages, LaTeX, 5 tables and 2 figures are appended in uuencoded postscript format, revised version (changes made to appear in Phys. Rev. D)