Analytic O (alpha-s) results for bottom and top quark production in e+ e- collisions

Abstract We present a new derivation of the O ( α s ) angular distribution of the outgoing q -quark in the production process e + e − → γ, Z → q (g) . In our calculation, we express the three-particle phase-space integration of the gluon-bremsstrah lung process in terms of a general set of analytic integral solutions. A consistent treatment of the QCD one-loop corrections to the axial-vector current deserves special attention. This is relevant in the derivation of the forward-backward asymmetry predicted by the standard mode]. Finally, we provide the fu]] analytical solutions for the differential rates in closed form and conclude with numerical estimates for bottom and top quark production.