Quark and antiquark polarization effects inqq¯andqq¯gfinal states in high energy collisions of polarized electrons and positrons

Abstract

The complete description of quark and antiquark spin polarization effects in high energy spin-polarized electron positron annihilation is to first order in ${\ensuremath{\alpha}}_{s}$ contained in nine hadron tensors. The hadron tensors are interrelated in such a way that only four of these tensors have to be calculated; the other five are obtained by simple transformations. The general basic cross section for description of longitudinal and transverse quark and antiquark polarization and polarization correlations is obtained. We find that the quark longitudinal polarization and longitudinal polarization correlations are in general considerable both for $q\overline{q}$ and $q\overline{q}g$ final states, and that the effect of a negative longitudinal electron beam polarization, which adds to the natural polarization, enhances the quark polarization effects. Transverse quark polarizations are in general small for relativistic quarks, being proportional to ${m}_{f}/E$. As for longitudinal polarization enhancement may be obtained by the use of longitudinal electron beam polarization. General analytic formulas for longitudinal and transverse quark polarization effects are given, including initial electron beam polarization. Specific analytic and numerical results for bottom and top quarks are presented.