I review progress on investigations concerning top quark physics and QCD at a future linear e+e- collider that has been achieved since the presentation of the TESLA technical design report in spring 2001. I concentrate on studies that have been presented during the workshop series of the Extended Joint ECFA/DESY Study on Physics and Detectors for a Linear Electron-Positron Collider.
The single top quark production has an electroweak nature and provides an additional to the top pair production source of the top quarks. The processes involving single top have unique properties, they are very interesting from both theoretical and experimental view points. Short review of the single top quark production processes is given in the paper.
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is expected to provide proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 14 TeV, yielding millions of of top quark events. The top-physics potential of the two general purpose experiments, ATLAS and CMS, is discussed according to state-of-the-art simulation of both physics and detectors. An overview is given of the most important results with emphasis on the expected improvements in our understanding of physics connected to the top quark.
We present an overview of Top Quark Physics - from what has been learned so far at the Tevatron, to the searches that lie ahead at present and future colliders. We summarize the richness of the measurements and discuss their possible impact on our understanding of the Standard Model by pointing out their key elements and limitations. When possible, we discuss how the top quark may provide a connection to new or unexpected physics.