Improved Determination of the b-Quark Mass at the Z Peak

Abstract

Next-to-leading order calculations of heavy quark three-jet production in e^+ e^- annihilation are reviewed. Their application for the measurement of the b-quark mass at LEP/SLC and to the test of the flavour independence of the strong coupling constant are discussed. Prospects for future improvements are studied.

Comments: 8 pages, 4 figures, uses sprocl.sty. Talk given at the IVth International Symposium on Radiative Corrections (RADCOR98), Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, 8-12 Sep 1998. Reference to Phys.Lett.B418(1998)430 corrected