Transverse Polarization of Top Quarks Produced in e+e- Annihilation at O(alpha_s)

Abstract

We present the results of an O(alpha_s) calculation of the transverse polarization of top quarks produced in e+e- annihilation. In a first step we determine the transverse polarization of the top with regard to the hadron plane spanned by the (q,bar q,g) system. We then rotate the transverse components of the polarization to the lepton plane spanned by the (q,e+,e-) system. After azimuthal averaging we determine the three remaining inclusive transversely polarized structure functions. Together with the one-loop and Born term contributions they determine the sin(theta) and sin(2*theta) beam-quark polar angle dependence of the transverse polarization. We present analytic and numerical results for the polarized structure functions and the polar angle dependence of the transverse polarization. We briefly comment on the transverse polarization of bottom quarks produced in e+e- annihilation.