We compute the non-factorisable contribution to the two-loop helicity amplitude for $t$-channel single-top production, the last missing piece of the two-loop virtual corrections to this process. Our calculation employs analytic reduction to master integrals and the auxiliary mass flow method for their fast numerical evaluation. We study the impact of these corrections on basic observables that are measured experimentally in the single-top production process.
We present a calculation of O(alpha_s) contributions to the process of t-channel single-top production and decay, which include virtual and real corrections arising from interference of the production and decay subprocesses. The calculation is organized as a simultaneous expansion of the matrix elements in the couplings alpha_{ew},alpha_s and the virtuality of the intermediate top quark, (p_t^2-m_t^2)/m_t^2 ~ Gamma_t/m_t, and extends earlier results beyond the narrow-width approximation.
We present a next-to-leading order accurate simulation of t-channel single-top plus jet production matched to parton showers via the POWHEG method. The calculation underlying the simulation is enhanced with a process-specific implementation of the multi-scale improved NLO (MINLO) method, such that it gives physical predictions all through phase space, including regions where the jet additional to the t-channel single-top process is unresolved. We further describe a tuning procedure for the MINLO Sudakov form factor, fitting the coefficient of the first subleading term in its exponent using an artificial neural-network. The latter tuning, implemented as a straightforward event-by-event reweighting, renders the MINLO simulation NLO accurate for t-channel single-top observables, in addition to those of the analogous single-top plus jet process.
In this work we present a calculation of both t-channel and s-channel single-top production at next-to-leading order in QCD for the Tevatron and for the LHC at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. All the cross sections and kinematical distributions presented include leading non-factorizable corrections arising from interferences of the production and decay subprocesses, extending previous results beyond the narrow-width approximation. The new off-shell effects are found to be generally small, but can be sizeable close to kinematical end-points and for specific distributions.
We have computed the complete one-loop electroweak effects in the MSSM for single top (and single antitop) production in the $t$-channel at hadron colliders, generalizing a previous analysis performed for the dominant $dt$ final state and fully including QED effects. The results are quite similar for all processes. The overall Standard Model one-loop effect is small, of the few percent size. This is due to a compensation of weak and QED contributions that are of opposite sign. The genuine SUSY contribution is generally quite modest in the mSUGRA scenario. The experimental observables would therefore only practically depend, in this framework, on the CKM $Wtb$ coupling.
We present a detailed investigation of the NLO polarization of the top quark in t t-bar production at a polarized linear e^+ e^- collider with longitudinally polarized beams. By appropiately tuning the polarization of the beams one can achieve close to maximal values for the top quark polarization over most of the forward hemisphere for a large range of energies. This is quite welcome since the rate is largest in the forward hemisphere. One can also tune the beam polarization to obtain close to zero polarization over most of the forward hemisphere.