Spin Correlations in Top-Quark Pair Production at $e^+e^-$ Colliders

Abstract

We show that top-quark pairs are produced in an essentially unique spin configuration in polarized $e^+e^-$ colliders at all energies above the threshold region. Since the directions of the electroweak decay products of polarized top-quarks are strongly correlated to the top-quark spin axis, this unique spin configuration leads to a distinctive topology for top-quark pair events which can be used to constrain anomalous couplings to the top-quark. A significant interference effect between the {\it longitudinal} and {\it transverse} W-bosons in the decay of polarized top-quarks is also discussed. These results are obtained at leading order in perturbation theory but radiative corrections are expected to be small.