Polar Angle Dependence of the Alignment Polarization of Quarks Produced in e^+e^- Annihilation

Abstract

We calculate one-loop radiative QCD corrections to the three polarized and unpolarized structure functions that determine the beam-quark polar angle dependence of the alignment (or longitudinal) polarization of light and heavy quarks produced in e^+e^- annihilations. We present analytical and numerical results for the alignment polarization and its polar angle dependence. We discuss in some detail the zero-mass limit of our results and the role of the anomalous spin-flip contributions to the polarization observables in the zero-mass limit. Our discussion includes transverse and longitudinal beam polarization effects.