Dynamical O(alpha_s) Effects in Forward-Backward Asymmetries of Heavy Quarks

Abstract

We examine the O(alpha_s) forward-backward asymmetries for the production process e+ e- --> gamma,Z --> q qbar (g), tagging the outgoing heavy-quark jet at center-of-momentum energies off the Z-peak. The complicated analytic results are reduced to simple polynomial forms that provide excellent approximations. For charm and bottom quark, a full dynamical cancellation gives O(alpha_s) zeros in the forward-backward asymmetry close to the Z-peak. We conclude with a detailed numerical analysis of our results.

Comments: 13 pages (LaTeX), 7 figures + 4 tables (PostScript)