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# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

The Standard Model (SM) of strong (QCD) and electroweak (EW) interactions has been the most successful framework to describe the phenomenology of high energy physics. However, one of the fundamental building blocks (the Higgs boson) still lacks experimental confirmation. On the other hand, the SM still suffers from some theoretical deficiencies, most notably the hierarchy problem. Several extensions of the SM have been proposed to solve these problems; in this note we will concentrate on its supersymmetric (SUSY) extension, more specifically to the $`R`$-parity conserving Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) .

The top quark, due to its large mass, could play a central role in the search of physics beyond the SM. On one hand it could decay to non-standard particles, on the other hand, due to its large Yukawa coupling, the effects of the Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking Sector are expected to be larger than for any other particle of the model. In the MSSM, these effects are reinforced by the presence of the SUSY partners of the top quark and Higgs bosons. Moreover, the new parameters appearing in the MSSM can have complex phases, and new sources of CP-violation phenomena can appear.

One should also bear in mind that, before the commissioning of TESLA, the LHC will be producing data which might turn out to include some physics beyond the SM, and we must be prepared for whatever the high energy physics scenario would be for the running of TESLA.

Here we present a review of the effects of SUSY in the top-quark phenomenology. First we review in section 2 the top-quark decay within the framework of the MSSM; then, in section 3, we present the MSSM effects on the top quark pair production in $`e^+e^{}`$ collisions, both in the presence and absence of CP-violating couplings.

## 2 Top-quark decays

The existence of SUSY could affect the total top-quark decay width in two ways. First of all through unexpected radiative corrections to the standard top quark decay process $`tW^+b`$. Second, some of the SUSY particles could be lighter than the top quark itself, thus providing new channels in which the top quark could decay.

Concerning the standard top-quark decay, we point out that its branching ratio $`\text{BR}(tW^+b)`$ is not so severely constrained by the observed top quark production cross section as one could naively think at first sight . In the MSSM the total observed cross section can be written, schematically, as

$$\begin{array}{ccc}\hfill \sigma _{\mathrm{obs}}& =& 𝑑q𝑑\overline{q}\sigma (q\overline{q}t\overline{t})\times |\text{BR}(tW^+b)|^2\hfill \\ & +& 𝑑q𝑑\overline{q}\sigma (q\overline{q}\stackrel{~}{g}\overline{\stackrel{~}{g}})\times |\text{BR}(\stackrel{~}{g}t\overline{\stackrel{~}{t}}_1)|^2\times |\text{BR}(tW^+b)|^2\hfill \\ & +& 𝑑q𝑑\overline{q}\sigma (q\overline{q}\stackrel{~}{b}_a\overline{\stackrel{~}{b}}_a)\times |\text{BR}(\stackrel{~}{b}_at\chi _1^{})|^2\times |\text{BR}(tW^+b)|^2+\mathrm{}\hfill \end{array}$$

Here $`𝑑q`$ represents the integration over the quarks Parton Distribution Functions, and sumation over quark flavours. In the SM only the first line of this equation is present. It follows that, in the MSSM, our present ignorance of the SUSY parameters prevents us from performing a detailed calculation of the $`t\overline{t}`$ production cross section as well as from putting a strict limit on $`\text{BR}(t`$“new”$`)`$ — the branching ratio of the top quark into new physics. It should also be clear that the observed cross section in Eqn. (2) refers not only to the standard $`bWbW`$ events, but to all kind of final states that can mimic them. Thus, effectively, we should substitute $`\text{BR}(tXb)`$ in that formula for $`\text{BR}(tW^+b)`$, and then sum the cross section over $`X`$, where $`X`$ is any state that leads to an observed pattern of leptons and jets similar to those resulting from $`W`$-decay. In particular, $`X=H^\pm `$ would contribute (see below) to the $`\tau `$-lepton signature, if $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ is large enough. Similarly, there can be direct top quark decays into SUSY particles that could mimic the SM decay of the top quark . The only restriction is an approximate lower bound $`\text{BR}(tW^+b)\text{ }\stackrel{>}{}\text{ }4050\%`$ in order to guarantee the purported standard top quark events at the Tevatron . Thus, from these considerations it is not excluded that the non-SM branching ratio of the top quark, $`\text{BR}(t`$“new”$`)`$, could be comparable to the SM one — or at least not necessarily much smaller.

The $`e^+e^{}`$ Linear Collider (LC) provides an excellent tool to test the various top quark partial decays widths. The total top quark decay width can be measured by means of a threshold scan, in a model independent way . Also the clean environment allows for a high prospect for detecting exclusive rare decay channels.

### 2.1 The top-quark standard decay width

In the SM the top-quark decays into a $`W^+`$ gauge boson and a bottom quark. The tree-level prediction for this partial decay width is (for $`m_t=175GeV`$)

$`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{SM}}^0(tW^+b)`$ $`=`$ $`\left({\displaystyle \frac{G_F}{8\pi \sqrt{2}}}\right){\displaystyle \frac{|V_{tb}|^2}{m_t}}\lambda ^{1/2}(1,m_b^2/m_t^2,M_W^2/m_t^2)`$ (1)
$`\times [M_W^2(m_t^2+m_b^2)+(m_t^2m_b^2)^22M_W^4]1.55\text{ GeV}`$
where $`\lambda ^{1/2}(1,x^2,y^2)`$ is the usual Källen function. As the width turns out to be much larger than the typical scale of non-perturbative QCD effects $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_{QCD}`$, it can be conceived as an effective infrared cut-off. This means that the top quark, due to its large mass, has time to weakly decay before strong hadronization processes come into play. And for this reason perturbative computations in top quark physics are reliable.

In this spirit the SM quantum corrections to the standard top quark decay width have been performed. The short-distance QCD effects have been computed up to two-loop level  and they amount to a correction of $`10\%`$ with respect to the tree-level width. The electroweak (EW) SM radiative correction is also available , but this contribution is below $`+2\%`$ in a scheme where the tree-level width is parametrized in terms of the Fermi constant $`G_F`$ — as in Eqn.(1). In this scheme the electroweak corrections are minimized both in the SM and in the MSSM because the set of universal contributions — viz. those encoded in the parameter $`\mathrm{\Delta }r`$ — cancel out.

The MSSM may furnish extra (perturbative) quantum effects on the standard decay width of the top quark through the one-loop corrections mediated by non-SM particles. They have been computed in 222The corresponding corrections in the general 2HDM can be found in Refs. . The particularization of these Higgs effects in the MSSM is studied in . and can be of two types, electroweak and strong. The SUSY-EW quantum corrections  are negative (as the standard QCD ones) and vary from $`1\%`$ to $`10\%`$, depending on the choice of the various SUSY parameters, and, especially of $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$. The corrections due to additional Higgs particle exchange (i.e. the MSSM Higgs effects after subtracting the corresponding SM limit of the MSSM Higgs sector) are at most of $`0.1\%`$ due to the severe constraints that SUSY imposes on the MSSM Higgs sector.

The SUSY-QCD corrections, mediated by gluinos and squarks, have also been found to be negative in most of the parameter space , though they are in general smaller than the SUSY-EW ones — namely, around a few % level — and they are independent of $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$.

In Fig. 1 we show the total SUSY (electroweak and QCD) corrections to this decay width for typical values of the SUSY spectrum. The upshot is that the total SUSY corrections to $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(tW^+b)`$ go in the same direction as the standard QCD ones. For large values of $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ they can typically yield an effect about half the size of the QCD corrections, thus providing an additional (potentially measurable) decrease of the tree-level value of the standard width (1).

### 2.2 Top-quark decay into charged Higgs

If the charged Higgs is light enough the top quark will also decay through the process $`tH^+b`$. This decay has been subject of interest since very early in the literature . If $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ is large or small enough the tree-level prediction for the partial decay width $`\mathrm{\Gamma }^0(tH^+b)`$ is comparable to the standard one (1). In fact $`\mathrm{\Gamma }^0(tH^+b)`$ presents a minimum at the point $`\mathrm{tan}\beta =\sqrt{m_t/m_b}6`$ and grows for larger or smaller values of $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ (see Fig. 2). Remarkably enough, this process turns out to be extremely sensitive to radiative corrections of all kinds. On one hand, the standard QCD corrections are quite large. They are negative and for $`\mathrm{tan}\beta \text{ }\stackrel{>}{}\text{ }10`$ they saturate around the value $`58\%`$ . On the other hand, the full set of the MSSM radiative corrections, at the one-loop level, can also be very important. They have been computed in , and more recently the general 2HDM corrections became also available .

In the case of the EW corrections one needs to define renormalization prescriptions also for the non-SM parameters that appear in these decays, in particular for the highly relevant parameter $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$. The renormalization counterterm for $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ can be fixed in many different ways. The actual corrections will depend on the particular definition, but not so the value of the physical observable, of course. In our case we found it practical to define $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ through the condition that the partial decay width $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(H^+\tau ^+\nu _\tau )`$ does not receive radiative corrections. This is a good choice for the scenario under study, since this is the dominant decay of a light charged Higgs boson (i.e. $`M_{H^\pm }<m_t`$) provided $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ is of order $`1`$ or above: $`\mathrm{tan}\beta >\sqrt{m_c/m_s}\text{ }\stackrel{>}{}\text{ }2`$. Under this renormalization prescription, and for moderate or large $`\mathrm{tan}\beta \text{ }\stackrel{>}{}\text{ }10`$, the bulk of the SUSY quantum corrections are known to stem from the finite threshold corrections to the bottom mass counterterm. The relevant effects are triggered by $`R`$-odd particles entering the bottom self-energy, and can be cast as follows

$`\left({\displaystyle \frac{\delta m_b}{m_b}}\right)_{\mathrm{S}\mathrm{QCD}}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2\alpha _s(m_t)}{3\pi }}m_{\stackrel{~}{g}}M_{LR}^bI(m_{\stackrel{~}{b}_1},m_{\stackrel{~}{b}_2},m_{\stackrel{~}{g}})`$
$``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2\alpha _s(m_t)}{3\pi }}m_{\stackrel{~}{g}}\mu \mathrm{tan}\beta I(m_{\stackrel{~}{b}_1},m_{\stackrel{~}{b}_2},m_{\stackrel{~}{g}}),`$
$`\left({\displaystyle \frac{\delta m_b}{m_b}}\right)_{\mathrm{S}\mathrm{EW}}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{h_th_b}{16\pi ^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{\mu }{m_b}}m_tM_{LR}^tI(m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_1},m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_2},\mu )`$
$``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{h_t^2}{16\pi ^2}}\mu A_t\mathrm{tan}\beta I(m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_1},m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_2},\mu ),`$
$`I(m_1,m_2,m_3)`$ $``$ $`16\pi ^2iC_0(0,0,m_1,m_2,m_3)`$ (2)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{m_1^2m_2^2\mathrm{ln}{\displaystyle \frac{m_1^2}{m_2^2}}+m_2^2m_3^2\mathrm{ln}{\displaystyle \frac{m_2^2}{m_3^2}}+m_1^2m_3^2\mathrm{ln}{\displaystyle \frac{m_3^2}{m_1^2}}}{(m_1^2m_2^2)(m_2^2m_3^2)(m_1^2m_3^2)}},`$
where $`C_0`$ is the three-point ’t Hooft-Passarino-Veltman function , and the rightmost expressions hold for sufficiently large $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$. Several important consequences can be derived already from the approximate expressions (2). The first one corresponds to the sign of the corrections. The sign of the SUSY-QCD corrections is opposite to that of the higgsino mass parameter $`\mu `$, whereas the sign of the SUSY-EW corrections is given by the product of $`\mu `$ and the soft-SUSY-breaking trilinear coupling $`A_t`$. Second, both kind of corrections grow linearly with $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$. A third, and important, observation is that, if we scale all the dimensionful parameters of Eqn. (2) by a factor $`\lambda `$, the $`\lambda `$-dependence drops out in the final expression. This means that raising the scale of SUSY breaking does not reduce the effects of the radiative corrections. Notice, however, that this consideration amounts to scale up also the trilinear coupling $`A_t`$ as well as the higgsino parameter $`\mu `$. Therefore, it may lead to unwanted fine-tuning effects in at least two important sectors of the MSSM: in the Higgs and squark sectors. Notwithstanding, if one does not stretch out the ranges of the parameters up to unreasonable limits (i.e. much beyond $`1`$ TeV or so), an important consequence can be derived without disrupting the natural structure of the model, to wit: that the $`R`$-odd particles whose masses are above the EW scale can effectively display, in the presence of Yukawa couplings, a non-decoupling behaviour. And this behaviour is triggered by the existence of explicit soft SUSY-breaking terms in combination with the spontaneous breaking of the gauge symmetry. Obviously, this is a very important feature as it could produce visible radiative corrections for this decay.333We should like to say that this feature is not limited to just the high energy process under consideration, but it applies equally well to some low-energy processes, e.g. in B-meson decays . Recently these finite threshold effects have been further refined in the literature and they have been re-summed to all orders .

In the case of the gluino mass dependence there is another trait that we wish to remark. Even without scaling up the rest of the SUSY parameters, the SUSY-QCD corrections to $`\mathrm{\Gamma }^0(tH^+b)`$ exhibit a local, and lengthy sustained, maximum around $`m_{\stackrel{~}{g}}\text{ }\stackrel{>}{}\text{ }300\text{ GeV}`$. Only for gluino masses well above the TeV scale (for fixed values of the squark masses) do these corrections eventually decouple . As for the corrections due to Higgs bosons loops, of which there are quite a few, we find that they are entirely negligible compared to the yield from $`R`$-odd particles.444This effect is due to the restrictions that SUSY imposes to the form of the Higgs bosons potential. In the unrestricted 2HDM the Higgs bosons loop corrections can also be important .

Figure 2a presents a summary of the main results. Here we have plotted the partial decay width $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(tH^+b)`$ as a function of $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$, for the two different scenarios that have been identified. In the first one ($`\mu <0`$) the SUSY-QCD corrections are opposite in sign to the QCD ones, thus canceling partially (or even totally) the SM strong corrections. In the second one ($`\mu >0`$) the SUSY-QCD corrections have the same sign as the standard QCD ones, so reinforcing the large negative corrections. In both cases we have fixed $`\mu A_t<0`$, which is the overall sign which makes allowance for the low energy data on radiative $`B`$ meson decays to be compatible with the existence of a light charged Higgs below the top quark mass . This fixes the SUSY-EW corrections (2) to be positive. In Fig. 2b we present the relative corrections induced by each sector of the MSSM, in the $`\mu <0`$ scenario.

The results shown in Fig. 2 can hardly be overemphasized. Whereas the QCD prediction for the partial decay width states that this is always significantly smaller than the standard partial decay width, in the $`\mu <0`$ scenario the charged Higgs partial decay width is equal to the standard one for $`\mathrm{tan}\beta 50`$, and it is rapidly increasing. In this scenario the presence of charged Higgs in top quark decays is significantly greater than the QCD prediction, and thus the experimental discovery reach of charged Higgs in top quark decays can be larger than expected. On the other hand in the $`\mu >0`$ scenario the discovery reach is decreased with respect to the standard one. Thus the excluded region in the $`\mathrm{tan}\beta M_{H^\pm }`$ plane due to the (up to now) unsuccessful search of charged Higgs bosons in top quark decays depends drastically on the value of the rest of parameters in the MSSM .

In Fig. 2b we see clearly the close-to-linear behaviour of the leading SUSY contributions (2), and we also see that the Higgs-boson mediated contributions ($`\delta _{EW}`$ in the plot) really play a marginal role. Interestingly enough we see that for $`\mathrm{tan}\beta 35`$ the SUSY-QCD corrections cancel the standard QCD ones, and thus, although the larger corrections are due to the strong interaction sector, the only radiative corrections that are left are the SUSY-EW ones.

The SUSY radiative corrections above $`\mathrm{tan}\beta 35`$ (at one-loop) can easily reach values of

$`\delta _{\mathrm{S}\mathrm{EW}}+30\%,\delta _{\mathrm{S}\mathrm{QCD}}+80\%(\mu <0,A_t>0,M_{SUSY}100200\text{ GeV}),`$
$`\delta _{\mathrm{S}\mathrm{EW}}+20\%,\delta _{\mathrm{S}\mathrm{QCD}}40\%(\mu >0,A_t<0,M_{SUSY}500\text{ GeV}).`$ (3)
Negative corrections for the SUSY-EW corrections of the same absolute values are possible provided $`\mu A_t>0`$. We have singled out different sparticle spectra for the two scenarios in order to avoid total corrections greater than $`100\%`$ when they are added to the standard QCD corrections.

### 2.3 FCNC top-quark decays

Flavour Changing Neutral Current (FCNC) decays of the top quark are one-loop induced processes. They are such rare events in the SM , with branching ratios at the level of $`10^{10}10^{15}`$ depending on the particular channel, that its presence at detectable levels would clearly indicate the presence of new physics. The question is whether the presence of SUSY particles could enhance these partial decay widths up to the visible level. The partial FCNC decay width into a weak vector boson $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(tcV)`$ ($`V=Z,\gamma `$) undergoes some enhancement , however it is still of the order of $`10^{12}10^{13}`$ in most of the parameter space, thus being far away of the detection level. The gluon channel ($`tcg`$) is the most gifted one in the SM, but it is nevertheless too small to be detectable ($`10^{10}`$). This mode, however, has recently been analyzed in great detail in the MSSM  and one finds that its branching ratio can be close to the visible threshold for the future high luminosity machines such as the LHC and the LC (see below). Finally, the top quark decaying into neutral Higgs particles ($`tch`$, $`h=h^0`$, $`H^0`$, $`A^0`$) has also been shown to benefit from large enhancements in the MSSM framework . In this respect we recall that in the MSSM the channel in which the lightest Higgs boson is involved ($`tch^0`$) is always kinematically open because $`m_{h^0}130GeV<m_t`$. Hereafter we will concentrate on the two decays, $`tcg`$ and $`tch^0`$, because the overall analysis shows that they are the most efficient FCNC decays in their respective modalities. Of course in SUSY models beyond the MSSM, such as models without $`R`$-parity, there could be other kind of competing FCNC top quark decays,555See e.g. Refs.  for some recent works on the subject. but here we shall stick all the time to the MSSM.

FCNC processes can be induced through SUSY-EW charged current interactions. These proceed through the same mixing matrix elements as in the SM: the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa mixing matrix. But in addition it could happen that the squark mass matrix squared is not proportional to the quark-mass-matrix squared. In this case the squark mass eigenstates would not coincide with the quark mass states, and as a consequence tree-level FCNC would appear in the quark-squark-gaugino/higgsino interactions. This mixing appears as non-flavour diagonal mass matrix elements in the squark mass matrix squared

$$(M_{LL}^2)_{ij}=m_{ij}^2\delta _{ij}m_im_j,(ij),$$
(4)
where $`i,j`$ represent squarks of any generation, and $`m_{\{i,j\}}`$ is the mass corresponding to the diagonal entries in the matrix. In the MSSM these kind of mixing terms in the Left-chiral sector are naturally generated through the Renormalization Group evolution of the soft-SUSY-breaking squark masses down to the EW scale . This is the reason why we just singled out the $`LL`$ mixing component in Eqn. (4). Flavour mass mixing terms for the corresponding Right-chiral squarks are allowed, but they do not appear naturally in the GUT frameworks. Moreover its presence is not essential because it does not change the order of magnitude of the results obtained with only flavour-mixing between Left-chiral squarks . The mixing terms $`\delta _{ij}`$ are restricted by the low energy data on FCNC processes . These limits were computed using the mass-insertion approximation, so they should be taken as order of magnitude limits. Recently it has been shown that the full computation of some FCNC process can give results which differ substantially from the mass-insertion approximation ones .

To assess the size of the FCNC top quark decay rates we use the fiducial ratio

$$B(tch)\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }(tcX)}{\mathrm{\Gamma }(tbW^+)},$$
(5)
for both $`X=g,h^0`$. The typical values of this ratio lie in the ballpark of $`10^8`$ for the SUSY-EW contributions in the regime of large $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ ($`30\text{ }\stackrel{<}{}\text{ }\mathrm{tan}\beta \text{ }\stackrel{<}{}\text{ }50)`$ and for a SUSY spectrum around $`200\text{ GeV}`$. This is already five orders of magnitude larger than the corresponding processes in the SM. The SUSY-QCD contributions, which appear when the $`\delta _{23}`$ in Eqn. (4) is non-zero for up-type squarks, are typically around two orders of magnitude larger, and they exhibit a slow decoupling as a function of the gluino mass, so even for gluinos as heavy as $`m_{\stackrel{~}{g}}500\text{ GeV}`$ the ratio $`B(tch^0)`$ can reach the level of $`10^5`$. This large value is due to the strong nature of the gluino-mediated interactions, but not less to the fact that present bounds on $`\delta _{23}`$ are rather poor. Also the various decays are sensitive to both: the higgsino mass parameter $`\mu `$ and the soft-SUSY-breaking trilinear coupling $`A_t`$.

In Figs. 3a and b we present the result of maximizing the ratio (5) for the SUSY-EW and SUSY-QCD contributions respectively . These plots have been obtained by performing a full scan of the MSSM parameter space, in the phenomenologically allowed region, and for SUSY parameters below $`1\text{ TeV}`$. Needless to say, not all of the maxima can be simultaneously attained as they are obtained for different values of the parameters. Perhaps the most noticeable result is that the decay into the lightest MSSM Higgs boson ($`tch^0`$) is the one that can be maximally enhanced, reaching values of order $`B(tch^0)10^4`$ that stay fairly stable all over the parameter space, and in particular for almost all the range of allowed Higgs boson masses in the MSSM.

For the sake of comparison, in Fig. 3 we show the maximized ratio for the competing decay $`tcg`$ as a function of the intergenerational mixing parameter between the second and the third generation, $`\delta _{23}`$ (4). We see that it never really reaches the critical value $`10^5,`$ which can be considered as the visible threshold for the next generation of high luminosity colliders. To assess the discovery reach of the FCNC top quark decays for these future accelerators we take as a guide the estimations that have been made for gauge boson final states . Assuming that all the FCNC decays $`tcX`$ ($`X=V,h`$) can be treated similarly, we roughly estimate the following sensitivities for $`100fb^1`$ of integrated luminosity:

$$\mathrm{𝐋𝐇𝐂}:B\text{ }\stackrel{>}{}\text{ }5\times 10^5;\mathrm{𝐋𝐂}:B\text{ }\stackrel{>}{}\text{ }5\times 10^4;\mathrm{𝐓𝐄𝐕𝟑𝟑}:B\text{ }\stackrel{>}{}\text{ }5\times 10^3.$$

Although the LHC seems to be the most sensitive machine to this kind of physics (due to its highest luminosity) the LC is also very competitive due to the cleanness of its environment which should allow a much more efficient isolation of the rare events. The upgraded Tevatron, unfortunately, looks not so promising in this respect.

To better assess the realistic possibilities for detecting the most serious FCNC top quark decay candidates, $`tch`$ and $`tcg`$, we remark that around the loci of maximal rates in parameter space the following situation is achieved

$$5\times 10^6\text{ }\stackrel{<}{}\text{ }B(tcg)_{\mathrm{max}}<B(tch^0)_{\mathrm{max}}\text{ }\stackrel{<}{}\text{ }5\times 10^4.$$
(6)
In both types of decays the dominant effects come from SUSY-QCD. However, it should not be undervalued the fact that the maximum electroweak rates for $`tch`$ can reach the $`10^6`$ level. Last but not least, we stress once again that the largest FCNC rate both from SUSY-QCD and SUSY-EW is precisely that of the lightest CP-even state ($`tch^0`$), which is the only Higgs channel that is phase-space available across the whole MSSM parameter space.

### 2.4 Two-body decays into $`R`$-odd particles

In principle there exist three possible two-body decays of the top quark into $`R`$-odd particles: $`t\stackrel{~}{b}\chi ^+`$, $`t\stackrel{~}{t}\stackrel{~}{g}`$ and $`t\stackrel{~}{t}\chi ^0`$. These decays were reviewed in . From the latest combined analysis of the four LEP experiments a lower bound on the squark and chargino masses between $`80\text{ GeV}`$ and $`90\text{ GeV}`$ is obtained . The exact bound depends on the assumptions of the analysis. The chargino channel is then highly disfavoured, and might be already closed at the end of the present LEP run. The light gluino window ($`m_{\stackrel{~}{g}}\text{ }\stackrel{<}{}\text{ }5\text{ GeV}`$) still exists, but its importance is everyday more marginal . Otherwise the direct limits from the Tevatron $`m_{\stackrel{~}{g}}\text{ }\stackrel{>}{}\text{ }200\text{ GeV}`$  apply, and the gluino decay channel is completely ruled out. So we are left with the neutralino decay channel as the most interesting decay. Note that light top-squarks are a natural feature in the MSSM due to the large top quark Yukawa coupling, and the presence of large mixing in the stop sector. A light top-squark (with small $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$) also leads to an enhancement of $`R_b`$, pushing it closer to the measured value . Under the conditions of light stop and low $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ the branching ratio for the top quark decay into a neutralino and a stop can be at the 20% to 30% level. The strong sector one-loop radiative corrections to this partial decay width have been computed in . A key feature of the radiative corrections in which $`R`$-odd and $`R`$-even particles are both involved in external legs is that it is no longer possible to separate between standard and SUSY corrections, since neither of these subsets is finite by itself, so gluon and gluino loop contributions must be added up in order to obtain a finite result. As a consequence of that there appear terms which present non-decoupling, namely corrections proportional to $`\alpha _s\mathrm{log}(m_{\stackrel{~}{g}}/m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_a})`$.

The on-shell renormalization procedure must again deal with non-standard counterterms. In this case a counterterm for the stop mixing angle, $`\delta \theta _t`$, is necessary, even in the case of vanishing angle; this can be fixed by the condition that $`\delta \theta _t`$ cancels the one-loop mixing two-point function between the two stops at $`m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_2}`$ .

In Fig. 4a we see the tree-level prediction for the various branching ratios $`B(t\stackrel{~}{t}\chi _\alpha ^0)`$ as a function of the lightest stop mass. We see that large values of this branching ratio can be obtained. In Fig. 4b the radiative QCD corrections to each of the decays are plotted. Their absolute value lies in the range $`212\%`$, for the small values of the gluino mass ($`m_{\stackrel{~}{g}}180\text{ GeV}`$) used in this figure. For larger gluino masses the corrections are negative, and in the range $`m_{\stackrel{~}{g}}=15\text{ TeV}`$ they grow from $`12\%`$ to $`22\%`$ .

### 2.5 Three-particle decays

In order to have a consistent description of the top quark decay width at the order $`G_F\alpha `$ it is necessary to account for the three-body decays of the top quark as well. In Ref.  all the possible three-body decays of the top quark were investigated.666See also Ref.  for a recent analysis of some of these modes, including $`R`$-parity violating decays. The aim in that work was to concentrate the analysis in regions of the parameter space in which the corresponding two-body decays were phase-space closed. With the latest bounds on SUSY particle masses  some of these decays turn out to be phase-space closed. Here we briefly review those that still are kinematically allowed.

$`tb\tau ^+\nu _\tau `$: In the MSSM there exists, in addition to the gauge boson mediated channel, also the charged Higgs boson one. Of course, if the charged Higgs is lighter than the top quark then it would proceed through the two-body decay $`tH^+b`$ analyzed in section 2.2. But if the charged Higgs is heavier than the top quark, then the additional contribution to the $`\tau ^+\nu _\tau `$ final state from the $`H^+`$ mediated diagram is in the range of 1-3% for $`M_{H^\pm }<200\text{ GeV}`$ and large $`\mathrm{tan}\beta >40`$; $`tbW^+h^0`$: Its decay width can only reach at most $`\mathrm{\Gamma }/\mathrm{\Gamma }_{SM}^0\text{ }\stackrel{<}{}\text{ }3\times 10^4`$.

Next we just quote the maximum branching ratios for some decays into $`R`$-odd particles. $`tb\chi ^0\chi ^+`$: $`\mathrm{\Gamma }/\mathrm{\Gamma }_{SM}^0\text{ }\stackrel{<}{}\text{ }0.006`$; $`t\stackrel{~}{b}\tau ^+\stackrel{~}{\nu }_\tau `$: $`\mathrm{\Gamma }/\mathrm{\Gamma }_{SM}^0\text{ }\stackrel{<}{}\text{ }1\%`$; $`tb\stackrel{~}{g}\chi ^+`$: We remark that this decay could only be possible in the light gluino scenario, but even in this case $`\mathrm{\Gamma }/\mathrm{\Gamma }_{SM}^0\text{ }\stackrel{<}{}\text{ }4\%`$. Let us comment now a bit on the decay $`tb\stackrel{~}{\tau }\stackrel{~}{\nu }_\tau `$. This is an interesting process since, although it contains two $`R`$-odd particles in the final state, both of them are sleptons, which therefore evade the limits from hadron colliders, and being from the third generation they are expected to be light. Two Feynman diagrams contribute to the amplitude of this process, one of them involves the exchange of a charged Higgs particle. Part of the couplings between $`H^+`$ and the $`\stackrel{~}{\tau }\stackrel{~}{\nu }_\tau `$ state involve the combination $`A_\tau \mathrm{tan}\beta +\mu `$, which can naturally reach large values. It turns out that if the decay channel $`H^+\stackrel{~}{\tau }\stackrel{~}{\nu }_\tau `$ is closed (i.e. $`M_{H^\pm }<m_{\stackrel{~}{\tau }}+m_{\stackrel{~}{\nu }_\tau }`$) the value if this partial decay width is enhanced. The maximum value of the partial decay width is obtained for $`M_{H^\pm }`$ slightly below the sum of the slepton masses. With this condition, together with large $`\mathrm{tan}\beta \text{ }\stackrel{>}{}\text{ }40`$, and $`|\mu |\text{ }\stackrel{>}{}\text{ }100\text{ GeV}`$ we find that the values for the corresponding branching ratio can easily be of $`50\%`$ . Of course, this kind of precise alignment may be not the most natural expectation in the MSSM, but even if the parameters are not “optimized” for a maximum branching ratio, there exist regions (in the large $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ scenario) where it can be relevant, say above the $`10\%`$ level. One of the possible signals for this decay channel includes a $`\tau ^{}`$, i.e. a “wrong sign” lepton, which could help in identifying this decay chain. See Ref.  for a complete compilation of possible distinctive signals.

## 3 Top-quark pair production in $`e^+e^{}t\overline{t}`$

Besides the possibility of direct production of SUSY particles at sufficiently high energies, accurate investigations of the production of standard fermion pairs in $`e^+e^{}`$ annihilation offers the indirect search for virtual SUSY particles through quantum effects in terms of loop corrections. In particular the top quark, owing to its large mass, is an ideal probe of all those virtual effects that grow with the fermion mass scale, such as Yukawa interactions and CP violation. The MSSM with complex parameters induces CP-violating observables already at the one-loop level; they are described below after a brief discussion of the generic supersymmetric loop contributions to the CP-conserving cross section for $`t\overline{t}`$ production.

### 3.1 Loop effects in the CP-conserving MSSM

The process of $`t\overline{t}`$ production is in lowest order described by photon and $`Z`$-boson exchange. The cross section can be written as follows

$`\sigma ^{(0)}(e^+e^{}t\overline{t})={\displaystyle \frac{\beta }{4\pi s}}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{3\beta ^2}{2}}\sigma _V(s)+\beta ^2\sigma _A(s)\right]`$ (7)
with

$`s=(p_e^{}+p_{e^+})^2,\beta =\sqrt{1{\displaystyle \frac{4m_t^2}{s}}},`$ (8)
and

$`\sigma _V`$ $`=`$ $`Q_e^2Q_t^2e(s)^4+\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}v_ev_tQ_eQ_te(s)^2\chi (s)+(v_e^2+a_e^2)v_t^2\chi (s)^2,`$
$`\sigma _A`$ $`=`$ $`(v_e^2+a_e^2)a_t^2\chi (s)^2.`$ (9)
This expression is an effective Born approximation, which incorporates the effective (running) electromagnetic charge containing the photon vacuum polarization (real part)

$`e(s)^2={\displaystyle \frac{4\pi \alpha }{1\mathrm{\Delta }\alpha (s)}},`$ (10)
the $`Z`$ propagator, together with the overall normalization factor of the neutral-current couplings in terms of the Fermi constant $`G_\mu `$,

$`\chi (s)=(G_\mu M_Z^2\sqrt{2})^2{\displaystyle \frac{s}{sM_Z^2}},`$ (11)
and the vector and axial-vector coupling constants for $`f=e,t`$,

$`v_f=I_3^f2Q_f\mathrm{sin}^2\theta _W,a_f=I_3^f.`$ (12)
The complete electroweak one-loop corrections were calculated for the case of the Standard Model , including also the hard-photon QED corrections . In a more recent study , a complete one-loop calculation was performed for the MSSM electroweak corrections and the non-standard part of the QCD corrections (SUSY-QCD corrections) to $`e^+e^{}t\overline{t}`$. The virtual Higgs contributions have also been derived in a general 2-Higgs-doublet model . For a large mass of the $`A^0`$ boson in the MSSM Higgs sector, the heavy particles $`H^0,A^0,H^\pm `$ decouple and the light $`h^0`$ scalar behaves like the standard Higgs boson. In this so-called decoupling limit, the only non-standard virtual SUSY effects arise from the genuine supersymmetric particles.

The one-loop contribution to the $`S`$-matrix element contains the $`\gamma `$ and $`Z`$ self-energies, the $`\gamma `$ and $`Z`$ vertex corrections together with the external wave function renormalization, and the box diagrams. Since Higgs-boson couplings to the initial state $`e^+,e^{}`$ are negligible, we only have to consider the standard box graphs with $`Z`$ and $`W^\pm `$ exchange and the SUSY box graphs with neutralino and chargino exchange.

The complete set of vertex corrections comprises the QED corrections with virtual photons and the QCD corrections with virtual gluons. They need real photon and gluon bremsstrahlung for a infrared-finite result. The gauge-invariant subclasses of “standard QED” and “standard QCD” corrections are identical to those in the Standard Model and are available in the literature . In the meantime, also a combined treatment of the QCD and the electroweak radiative corrections in the Standard Model has been proposed  in order to account for the dominant terms from both sources. In our context, we are interested in deviations from the Standard Model induced by non-standard virtual particles. We therefore concentrate our discussion on the set of model-dependent and IR-finite virtual corrections, without the diagrams involving virtual photons and gluons. The supersymmetric part of the QCD corrections, arising from virtual gluinos, is included as part of the final-state vertex correction.

The effect of these IR-finite loop-corrections is illustrated in Figure 5, where the energy dependence of lowest-order cross section (7) is shown together with the Standard Model (SM) and the MSSM one-loop prediction. The differences between the SM and the MSSM depend on the values of the SUSY-breaking parameters and the Higgsino mass parameter $`\mu `$. In case of a direct detection of SUSY particles, these parameters can, at least partially, be measured and the top production cross section can provide an independent test of the MSSM. In a first phase of a Linear Collider operation, the mass of eventually light SUSY particles, such as a scalar top $`\stackrel{~}{t}_1`$ or a chargino $`\chi _1^\pm `$ may be determined sufficiently well, while the heavier particles may appear as less accessible. A precise measurement of the $`t\overline{t}`$ cross section is therefore useful to probe the heavier part of the model through the quantum contributions. To make this more quantitative, we assume a scenario with a relatively light stop and chargino, and analyze the dependence of the loop-contributions on the residual parameters of the MSSM, which determine the heavier part of the mass spectrum. In order to exhibit the deviations from the SM, we introduce the quantity

$`\mathrm{\Delta }={\displaystyle \frac{\sigma ^{\mathrm{MSSM}}(s)\sigma ^{\mathrm{SM}}(s)}{\sigma ^{(0)}(s)}},`$ (13)
which gives the difference between the models normalized to the Born cross section (7). The results are displayed in Figure 6. For simplicity, we have assumed a common mass scale $`M_S`$ and a common $`A`$ parameter for the diagonal and non-diagonal entries in the sfermion mass-square matrices of all generations (as well as for $`L`$ and $`R`$ chiralities). The free parameters in Figure 6 are varied in accordance with a set of constraints which ensure consistency with the present electroweak precision data and bounds from direct Higgs searches. The effects are in the per-cent range, and show quite some sensitivity to the model parameters. Large values for $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ induce bigger loop effects, owing to the enhanced $`b`$ quark/squark Yukawa couplings.

As another possible scenario, we consider the situation that SUSY particles are not directly detected at a 500 GeV collider. The corresponding virtual SUSY effects, compatible with these bounds and with the constraints from the electroweak precision data, are shown in Figure 7. At least for the large-$`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ regime the loop contributions are at the level of 1–2 per cent.

### 3.2 CP violation in the MSSM

#### 3.2.1 The MSSM with complex couplings

The following parameters of the MSSM with preserved $`R`$-parity may take complex values: the Yukawa couplings, the $`\mu `$ parameter and the soft-breaking parameters $`m_{12}^2`$ (in the Higgs potential), $`M_1`$, $`M_2`$, $`M_3`$ (gaugino mass terms) and $`A`$ (trilinear terms). But not all of the complex phases introduced are physical since several of them can be absorbed by redefinitions of the fields.

We assume the GUT relation between the $`M_i`$, so they have one common phase. The remaining phases are chosen to be those of $`\mu `$, the $`A`$ parameters and, for three generations, one phase for all the Yukawa couplings, the $`\delta _{\mathrm{CKM}}`$. Analogous to the Standard Model case, the Yukawa couplings can be changed by redefinitions of the quark superfields in such a way that there remains only one phase for three generations.

Furthermore, the $`_{\mathrm{MSSM}}`$ is invariant under two U(1) transformations, the Peccei-Quinn symmetry and the $`R`$-symmetry, that do not only transform the fields but also the parameters of the MSSM . With them one can easily show  that the physical predictions only depend on the absolute values of the parameters and the phases

$`\varphi _A\mathrm{arg}(AM_i^{}),\varphi _B\mathrm{arg}(\mu Am_{12}^2).`$ (14)
It is then possible to choose a set where only the $`\mu `$ and the $`A`$ parameters are complex. We take $`\phi _\mu =\mathrm{arg}(\mu )`$ and the phase of $`A`$ is traded for the phase $`\phi _{\stackrel{~}{f}}`$ of the off-diagonal term in the corresponding sfermion mixing matrix: $`m_{LR}^fA_f\mu ^{}\{\mathrm{cot},\mathrm{tan}\}\beta `$, for {up, down}-type fermions, respectively. Relaxing universality for the soft-breaking terms, every $`A_f`$ has a different phase.

In comparison with the MSSM with real couplings, the new physical phases affect the mass spectrum of charginos and neutralinos, modify the tree level couplings and notably produce CP-violating effects at the one-loop level that we analyze in the following.

#### 3.2.2 Electric dipole form factors

The most general Lorentz structure for the vertex $`Vff`$ in the momentum space is

$`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mu ^{Vff}`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{i}[\gamma _\mu (f_\mathrm{V}f_\mathrm{A}\gamma _5)+(q\overline{q})_\mu (f_\mathrm{M}+\mathrm{i}f_\mathrm{E}\gamma _5)+p_\mu (\mathrm{i}f_\mathrm{S}+f_\mathrm{P}\gamma _5)`$ (15)
$`+(q\overline{q})^\nu \sigma _{\mu \nu }(f_{\mathrm{TS}}+\mathrm{i}f_{\mathrm{TP}}\gamma _5)+p^\nu \sigma _{\mu \nu }(\mathrm{i}f_{\mathrm{TM}}+f_{\mathrm{TE}}\gamma _5)],`$
where $`q`$ and $`\overline{q}`$ are the outgoing momenta of the fermions and $`p=(q+\overline{q})`$ is the total incoming momentum of the neutral vector boson $`V`$. The form factors $`f_i`$ are functions of kinematical invariants and can be complex in general. Their real parts account for dispersive effects (CPT-even) whereas their imaginary parts are related to absorptive contributions. For on-shell fermions, making use of the Gordon identities, one can eliminate $`f_{\mathrm{TM}}`$, $`f_{\mathrm{TE}}`$, $`f_{\mathrm{TS}}`$ and $`f_{\mathrm{TP}}`$. The number of relevant form factors can be further reduced when $`V`$ is on shell, since then the condition $`p_\mu ϵ^\mu =0`$ cancels the contributions coming from $`f_\mathrm{S}`$ and $`f_\mathrm{P}`$. The form factors $`f_\mathrm{V}`$ and $`f_\mathrm{A}`$ are connected to the chirality conserving, CP-even sector. The anomalous magnetic and electric dipole form factors are defined, respectively, by

AMDFF $``$ $`a_f^V(s)2m_ff_\mathrm{M}(s),`$ (16)
EDFF $``$ $`d_f^V(s)ef_\mathrm{E}(s).`$ (17)
They are related to chirality-flipping operators of dimension larger than four. In a renormalizable theory they can receive contributions exclusively by quantum corrections. Unlike the MDFFs, the EDFFs are connected to the CP-odd sector and therefore constitute a source of CP violation. The electromagnetic and weak dipole moments are physical and gauge invariant quantities corresponding to the values of the dipole form factors at $`s=(q+\overline{q})^2=M_V^2`$ for $`V=\gamma ,Z`$, respectively.

All the possible one-loop contributions to the $`a_f^V(s)`$ and $`d_f^V(s)`$ form factors can be classified in terms of the six classes of triangle diagrams. The vertices involved are labeled by generic couplings according to a general interaction Lagrangian. Every class of diagrams has been calculated analytically and expressed, in the ’t Hooft-Feynman gauge, in terms of masses, generic (complex) couplings and one-loop 3-point integrals in Refs. .

We concentrate here on the CP-violating electric dipoles of the top quark. Unlike the SM, where the EDFFs arise first at three loops , in the MSSM they receive contributions already at the one-loop level . On the other hand, since the top quark is too heavy to be pair-produced by $`Z`$ decays, and has a too short life to study its electromagnetic static properties, the electric $`d_t^\gamma (s)`$ and weak-electric $`d_t^Z(s)`$ form factors, $`s>4m_t^2`$, are not physical. In fact, they do not contribute alone to CP-violating observables, as it will be show in next Section. Nevertheless they happen to be gauge invariant quantities at one loop.

The size of the electric dipole form factors of the top quark is illustrated in Fig. 8 where the different contributions from charginos, neutralinos and gluinos are also displayed. Neutralinos and gluinos appear with stops in the loops, and charginos with sbottoms. The Higgs sector does not play any role. The results depend on a number of MSSM parameters: $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$, $`M_2`$, $`|\mu |`$, $`m_{LR}^t`$, $`m_{LR}^b`$ and $`m_{\stackrel{~}{q}}`$ (the common squark mass parameter); and three physical CP-violating phases, $`\phi _\mu `$, $`\phi _{\stackrel{~}{t}}`$ and $`\phi _{\stackrel{~}{b}}`$. They are expressed in $`t`$ magnetons $`\mu _te/2m_t=5.64\times 10^{17}e`$ cm. The values shown in the plots are for the set of inputs:

$`\mathrm{tan}\beta =1.6`$
$`M_2=|\mu |=m_{\stackrel{~}{q}}=|m_{LR}^t|=|m_{LR}^b|=200\text{ GeV}`$
$`\text{Reference Set }\mathrm{\#}1:`$ $`\phi _\mu =\phi _{\stackrel{~}{t}}=\phi _{\stackrel{~}{b}}=\pi /2.`$ (18)
This set of parameters is plausible and enhances the electric dipole form factors in the vicinity of $`\sqrt{s}=500`$ GeV, due to threshold effects (spikes in Fig. 8). The phases are chosen maximal and with such a sign that the typically larger components (charginos and gluinos) add up constructively. The low $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ scenario has been chosen because both chargino and gluino contributions are then larger. Of course, the electric dipoles vanish for zero phases. Due to the decoupling of the supersymmetric sector, the dipoles tend to vanish for increasing values of the mass parameters. A detailed study can be found in .

#### 3.2.3 CP-odd observables

Not only vertex- but also box-diagrams correct the tree level process to one loop. Accordingly, any CP-odd observable will depend on the CP-violating effects due to vertex corrections included in the electric and weak-electric dipole form factors as well as on CP-violating box contributions. In the former there appear either sneutrinos, neutralinos and stops or selectrons, charginos and sbottoms.

To probe CP violation, consider the pair-production of polarized $`t`$ quarks $`e^+(𝐩_+)+e^{}(𝐩_{})t(𝐤_+,𝐬_\mathrm{𝟏})+\overline{t}(𝐤_{},𝐬_\mathrm{𝟐})`$. The decay channels labeled by $`a`$ and $`c`$ act as spin analyzers in $`t+\overline{t}a(𝐪_+)+\overline{c}(𝐪_{})+X`$. The momenta and polarization vectors in the overall c.m.s. transform under CP and CPT as follows:777T means reflection of spins and momenta.

$`\begin{array}{cc}\hfill \text{CP}:& 𝐩_\pm 𝐩_{}=𝐩_\pm \hfill \\ & 𝐤_\pm 𝐤_{}=𝐤_\pm \hfill \\ & 𝐪_\pm 𝐪_{}\hfill \\ & 𝐬_\mathrm{𝟏}𝐬_\mathrm{𝟐}\hfill \end{array}`$ $`\begin{array}{cc}\hfill \text{CPT}:& 𝐩_\pm 𝐩_{}=𝐩_\pm \hfill \\ & 𝐤_\pm 𝐤_{}=𝐤_\pm \hfill \\ & 𝐪_\pm 𝐪_{}\hfill \\ & 𝐬_\mathrm{𝟏}𝐬_\mathrm{𝟐}\hfill \end{array}`$ (27)
From the unit momentum of one of the $`t`$ quarks in the c.m.s. (say $`\widehat{𝐤}_+`$) and their polarizations ($`𝐬_\mathrm{𝟏}`$, $`𝐬_\mathrm{𝟐}`$) a basis of linearly independent CP-odd spin observables can be constructed . The spin observables are related to more realistic (directly measurable) momentum observables based on the momenta of the top decay products . The polarizations can be analyzed through the angular correlation of the weak decay products, both in the nonleptonic and in the semileptonic channels:

$`t(𝐤_+)b(𝐪_𝐛)X_{\mathrm{had}}(𝐪_𝐗),`$ (28)
$`t(𝐤_+)b(𝐪_𝐛)\mathrm{}^+(𝐪_+)\nu _{\mathrm{}}(\mathrm{}=e,\mu ,\tau )`$ (29)
and the charged conjugated ones.

#### 3.2.4 Spin observables

A list of CP-odd spin observables classified according to their CPT properties is shown in Table 1. Their expectation values as a function of $`s`$ and the scattering angle of the $`t`$ quark in the overall c.m. frame are given by

$`𝒪_{\mathrm{𝐚𝐛}}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\mathrm{d}\sigma }}\left[{\displaystyle \underset{𝐬_\mathrm{𝟏}^{},𝐬_\mathrm{𝟐}^{}=\pm 𝐚,\pm 𝐛}{}}+{\displaystyle \underset{𝐬_\mathrm{𝟏}^{},𝐬_\mathrm{𝟐}^{}=\pm 𝐛,\pm 𝐚}{}}\right]\mathrm{d}\sigma (𝐬_\mathrm{𝟏}^{},𝐬_\mathrm{𝟐}^{})𝒪,`$ (30)
$`\mathrm{d}\sigma `$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{\pm 𝐬_\mathrm{𝟏}^{},\pm 𝐬_\mathrm{𝟐}^{}}{}}\mathrm{d}\sigma (𝐬_\mathrm{𝟏}^{},𝐬_\mathrm{𝟐}^{}).`$ (31)
They are displayed in Fig. 10, for two sets of MSSM parameters, Set #1 of (18) and Set #2 with same moduli but different phases:

$`\text{Reference Set }\mathrm{\#}2:`$ $`\phi _\mu =\phi _{\stackrel{~}{t}}=\phi _{\stackrel{~}{b}}=\pi /2.`$ (32)
The directions of polarization of $`t`$ and $`\overline{t}`$ (a and b) are taken normal to the scattering plane (N), transversal (T) or longitudinal (L). They are taken either parallel ($``$) or antiparallel ($``$) to the axes defined by $`\widehat{z}=𝐤_+`$, $`\widehat{y}=𝐤_+\times 𝐩_+/|𝐤_+\times 𝐩_+|`$ and $`\widehat{x}=\widehat{y}\times \widehat{z}`$. The spin vectors $`𝐬_\mathrm{𝟏}^{}`$, $`𝐬_\mathrm{𝟐}^{}`$ are defined in the $`t`$, $`\overline{t}`$ rest frames, respectively. The statistical significance (number of standard deviations) of the CP-violation signal is given by

$`N_{SD}=|r|\sqrt{N},r𝒪/\sqrt{𝒪^2}`$ (33)
where $`N`$ is the number of observed events.

We compare the result when only the self energies and vertex corrections are included (left column) with the complete one-loop calculation (right column). The shape of the observables as a function of the $`t`$ polar angle is also quite different when the CP violating box contributions are taken into account (Fig. 10). This illustrates that the dipole form factors of the $`t`$ quark are not sufficient to parameterize observable CP-violating effects and the predictions can be wrong by far.

#### 3.2.5 Momentum observables

Consider now the decay channels labeled by $`a`$ and $`c`$ acting as spin analyzers in $`t+\overline{t}a(𝐪_+)+\overline{c}(𝐪_{})+X`$. We ignore here possible CP violation in the top-quark decays, that may occur due to supersymmetric one-loop corrections . The expectation value of a realistic CP-odd observable is given by the average over the phase space of the final state particles,

$`𝒪_{ac}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left[𝒪_{a\overline{c}}+𝒪_{c\overline{a}}\right]={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\sigma _{ac}}}{\displaystyle \left[\mathrm{d}\sigma _{a\overline{c}}+\mathrm{d}\sigma _{c\overline{a}}\right]𝒪},`$ (34)
where both the process ($`a\overline{c}`$) and its CP conjugate ($`c\overline{a}`$) are included and

$`\sigma _{ac}={\displaystyle d\sigma _{a\overline{c}}}={\displaystyle d\sigma _{c\overline{a}}},`$ (35)
The differential cross section for $`t`$-pair production and decay is evaluated for every channel using the narrow width approximation. As $`m_t>M_W+m_b`$, the $`t`$ quark decays proceed predominantly through $`Wb`$. Within the SM the angular distribution of the charged lepton is a much better spin analyzer of the $`t`$ quark than that of the $`b`$ quark or the $`W`$ boson arising from semileptonic or nonleptonic $`t`$ decays . The dimensionless observables are easier to measure, for instance the scalar CP-odd observables :

$`\widehat{A}_1`$ $``$ $`\widehat{𝐩}_+{\displaystyle \frac{\widehat{𝐪}_+\times \widehat{𝐪}_{}}{|\widehat{𝐪}_+\times \widehat{𝐪}_{}|}}\text{[CPT-even]}`$ (36)
$`\widehat{A}_2`$ $``$ $`\widehat{𝐩}_+(\widehat{𝐪}_++\widehat{𝐪}_{})\text{[CPT-odd]}`$ (37)
or the CP-odd traceless tensors :

$`\widehat{T}_{ij}`$ $``$ $`(\widehat{𝐪}_+\widehat{𝐪}_{})_i{\displaystyle \frac{(\widehat{𝐪}_+\times \widehat{𝐪}_{})_j}{|\widehat{𝐪}_+\times \widehat{𝐪}_{}|}}+(ij)\text{[CPT-even]}`$ (38)
$`\widehat{Q}_{ij}`$ $``$ $`(\widehat{𝐪}_++\widehat{𝐪}_{})_i(\widehat{𝐪}_+\widehat{𝐪}_{})_j+(ij)\text{[CPT-odd]}`$ (39)
The reconstruction of the $`t`$ frame is not necessary for the momentum observables. The observables $`\widehat{A}_2`$ and $`\widehat{Q}_{ij}`$ do not involve angular correlations as they could be measured considering separate samples of events in the reactions $`e^+e^{}aX`$ and $`e^+e^{}\overline{a}X`$. Nevertheless it is convenient to treat them in an event-by-event basis .

In Table 2 the ratio $`r`$ is shown for three different decay channels at $`\sqrt{s}=500`$ GeV. The CP-odd observables involve the momenta of the decay products analyzing $`t`$ and $`\overline{t}`$ polarizations in the laboratory frame. The leptonic decay channels are the best $`t`$ spin analyzers but the number of leptonic events is also smaller. The Reference Set $`\mathrm{\#}2`$ has been chosen. As expected, the dipole contributions (left columns) to the CPT even observables are very small for this choice of MSSM parameters but the actual expectation values (right columns) are larger.

#### 3.2.6 Polarized beams

The previous results were obtained for unpolarized electron and positron beams. Let $`P_\pm `$ be the degree of longitudinal polarization of the initial $`e^\pm `$. The differential cross section reads now

$`\mathrm{d}\sigma ={\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}\left[(1+\mathrm{P}_+)(1+\mathrm{P}_{})\mathrm{d}\sigma _R+(1\mathrm{P}_+)(1\mathrm{P}_{})\mathrm{d}\sigma _L\right],`$ (40)
where $`\sigma _{R/L}`$ corresponds to the cross section for electrons and positrons with equal right/left-handed helicity. Chirality conservation suppresses opposite helicities. Table 3 summarizes some extreme cases. If both beams are fully polarized, $`\mathrm{P}_+=\mathrm{P}_{}=\pm 1`$, the ratio $`r`$ is the same as for ($`\mathrm{P}_\pm =0`$, $`\mathrm{P}_{}=\pm 1`$), respectively, but the cross sections are twice as much (40), which results in a higher statistical significance of the CP signal. From comparison of Table 2 (right columns) with Table 3 is clear that left-handed polarized beams enhance the sensitivity to CP-violating effects.

Concerning the experimental reach of this analysis, the statistical significance of the signal of CP violation is given by $`N_{SD}=|r|\sqrt{N}`$ with $`N=ϵ\sigma _{t\overline{t}}\text{BR}(ta)\text{BR}(\overline{t}\overline{c})`$ where $`ϵ`$ is the detection efficiency and $``$ the integrated luminosity of the collider. The branching ratios of the $`t`$ decays are BR $`1`$ for the $`b`$ channel and BR $`0.22`$ for the leptonic channels ($`\mathrm{}=e,\mu `$). At $`\sqrt{s}=500`$ GeV the total cross section for $`t`$-pair production is $`\sigma _{t\overline{t}}0.5`$ pb. Assuming a LC integrated luminosity $`500`$ fb-1 and a perfect detection efficiency, one gets $`\sqrt{N}500,235,110`$ for the channels $`bb`$, $`\mathrm{}b`$, $`\mathrm{}\mathrm{}`$, respectively. With these statistics, values of $`|r|2\times 10^3,4\times 10^3,9\times 10^3`$ for the channels above would be necessary to achieve a 1 s.d. effect. Such values can be hardly reached in the context of the MSSM for the given luminosity, even for polarized beams, as Tables 2 and 3 show.

## 4 Conclusions

In summary, the top-quark is an excellent laboratory to test the MSSM. If SUSY is realized in nature around the electroweak scale, the top-quark phenomenology differs significantly from the SM one. The various top-quark observables can be well investigated at TESLA. The production cross-section receives radiative corrections that can be used to test the MSSM, or to derive bounds on the masses of the various sparticles. Also, in the MSSM there exist new sources of CP-violation effects, giving rise to specific CP-violating asymmetries in top-pair production, which, however, might be too small for being observable with the currently expected luminosity. The top-quark decay modes can differ significantly from the SM ones; of special importance is the $`tH^+b`$ decay mode. Even in the case that the new particles of the MSSM are heavier than the top-quark, their virtual quantum effects influence the top-quark standard decay mode. Moreover, the LC presents a great sensitivity to the possible rare decays. In the MSSM some of these decays are strongly enhanced with respect to the SM expectations, and could be detected.

## Acknowledgments

This work has been partially supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, by CICYT under projects AEN99-0766 and AEN96-1672 and by Junta de Andalucía under project FQM-101.


text:
# Photoproduction of Vector Mesons at Large Transfer

## Abstract

At forward angles, the cross-sections of photoproduction of vector mesons ($`\rho `$, $`\omega `$, and $`\varphi `$) are well accounted for by the exchange of the Pomeron at high energies, while contributions of $`t`$ channel exchange of Reggeons are significant at low energies. At large angles, the impact parameter becomes small enough to prevent their constituents to build up the exchanged Reggeons or Pomeron. Two gluon exchange appears to dominate above $`t1`$ GeV2, especially in the $`\varphi `$ channel.

Elastic photoproduction of vector mesons exhibits the same slow rise with the energy as the hadronic cross-sections (Fig. 1): The time during which the photon fluctuates into vector mesons is long enough to permit their interactions with the target nucleon. The exchange of the Pomeron accounts fairly well for this universal behavior, while at lower energies the exchange of a few Regge trajectories is necessary to reproduce the variation of the cross-sections . At large angles, the impact parameter is small enough to prevent two gluons (resp. two quarks) to build up the exchanged Pomeron (resp. Reggeons). This note investigates under which conditions the Pomeron and the Reggeons are resolved into their simplest constituents and how they couple to the constituent quarks in the vector meson and the nucleon.

Following the notations of Ref. , the amplitudes describing the exchange of the Pomeron and the $`f_2`$ meson can be combined in the compact form:

$`𝒯_P+𝒯_{f_2}=i{\displaystyle \frac{12\sqrt{6}m_Ve_qf_V\beta _0^2\mu _0^2F_1(t)}{(Q^2+m_V^2t)(2\mu _0^2+Q^2+m_V^2t)}}`$ (1)
$`\times [2pqϵ_Vϵ+2ϵ_Vpϵ(qP_V)2ϵ_Vqϵp`$ (2)
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{Q^2+m_V^2t}{pq}}ϵ_Vpϵp](\left({\displaystyle \frac{s}{s_0}}\right)^{\alpha _P(t)1}e^{\frac{1}{2}i\pi \alpha _P(t)}`$ (3)
$`+\kappa _{f_2}\left({\displaystyle \frac{s}{s_1}}\right)^{\alpha _{f_2}(t)1}{\displaystyle \frac{(1+e^{i\pi \alpha _{f_2}(t)})\pi \alpha _{f_2}^{}}{2\mathrm{sin}(\pi \alpha _{f_2}(t))\mathrm{\Gamma }(\alpha _{f_2}(t))}})`$ (4)
being $`p=(E_i,\stackrel{}{p_i})`$, $`q=(\omega ,\stackrel{}{k})`$ and $`P_V=(P_V^0,\stackrel{}{P_V})`$ the four momenta of the target nucleon, the incoming photon and the outgoing meson: $`2pq=sm^2+Q^2`$. The Regge trajectory of the Pomeron is $`\alpha _P(t)=1.08+0.25t`$, while the trajectory of the $`f_2`$ meson is $`\alpha _{f_2}(t)=0.55+\alpha _{f_2}^{}t`$, with $`\alpha _{f_2}^{}=0.7`$ GeV-2. The mass scales are $`s_0=4`$ GeV2 and $`s_1=`$ 1 GeV2.

The model  assumes that the Pomeron, or the $`f_2`$, couples to a single constituent quark in the vector meson and in the nucleon, as a $`C=+1`$ isoscalar photon. In the high energy limit, the trace over the matrices in the quark loops leads to the three first terms in the square bracket. The last term has been added to restore gauge invariance: it can be considered as a contact term. When the strength of the coupling of the Pomeron with a quark, $`\beta _0^24`$ GeV2, is fixed by the analysis of the nucleon-nucleon high energy scattering, the Pomeron exchange amplitude reproduces the magnitude of vector meson photoproduction cross sections in the HERA energy range, $`W100`$ GeV. Their ratio follows from the actual values of the effective charge $`e_q`$ of the quark, the mass $`m_V`$ and the radiative decay constant $`f_V`$ of the meson. In the Fermi Lab, CERN and SLAC energy range, $`W10`$ GeV and below, the Pomeron exchange contribution underestimates the measured cross sections. Here the exchange of a trajectory with an intercept close to $`0.5`$ is needed to provide a contribution which decreases slowly with energy. Since the $`\rho `$ or $`\omega `$ meson cannot be exchanged, the model includes a non-degenerate trajectory based on the $`f_2(1270)`$ meson, which is assumed to couple to the quark as the Pomeron, the strength of its coupling ($`\kappa _{f_2}=9`$) being adjusted in order to reproduce the $`\rho `$ channel cross section. It reproduces also the $`\omega `$ channel cross section, especially its natural parity exchange component (open squares at $`W=2`$ and $`3`$ GeV, in Fig. 1). In the $`\varphi `$ channel, the Pomeron exchange amplitude reproduces the trend of the cross-section down to threshold, slightly overestimating it (by 20%) at low energy. Here, the exchange of $`f_2^{}(1525)`$, which has a significant strangeness content, is preferred to the $`f_2(1270)`$ meson and brings the model close to the data when $`\kappa _{f_2^{}}=4.5`$.

Scalar and pseudo scalar meson exchanges contribute at lower energies accessible at SLAC and JLab. The spatial part of the $`\pi `$ exchange amplitude takes the form:

$`𝒯_\pi =i{\displaystyle \frac{eg_{V\pi \gamma }}{m_\pi }}g_0{\displaystyle \frac{\sqrt{(E_i+m)(E_f+m)}}{2m}}F_\pi (t)\left({\displaystyle \frac{s}{s_1}}\right)^{\alpha _\pi (t)}`$ (5)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{\pi \alpha _\pi ^{}e^{i\pi \alpha _\pi (t)}}{\mathrm{sin}(\pi \alpha _\pi (t))\mathrm{\Gamma }(\alpha _\pi (t)+1)}}\left(\chi _f\right|\stackrel{}{\sigma }[{\displaystyle \frac{\stackrel{}{p_i}}{E_i+m}}`$ (6)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{\stackrel{}{p_f}}{E_f+m}}]\left|\chi _i\right)[\stackrel{}{k}\times (ϵ_V^0\stackrel{}{P_V}P_V^0\stackrel{}{ϵ_V})\omega \stackrel{}{ϵ_V}\times \stackrel{}{P_V}]\stackrel{}{ϵ}`$ (7)
being $`(E_f,\stackrel{}{p_f})`$ the four momenta of the recoiling nucleon and $`\chi _i`$, $`\chi _f`$ the nucleon spinors. The degenerate Regge trajectory  is $`\alpha _\pi (t)=(tm_\pi ^2)\alpha _\pi ^{}`$, with $`\alpha _\pi ^{}=0.7`$ GeV-2. The $`\pi N`$ coupling constant is $`g_0^2/4\pi =14.5`$. According to the low energy phenomenology, a monopole form factor $`F_\pi (t)=(\mathrm{\Lambda }_\pi ^2m_\pi ^2)/(\mathrm{\Lambda }_\pi ^2t)`$, with $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_\pi =1.1`$ GeV, takes into account the finite size of the $`\pi N`$ vertex.

The $`\pi `$ exchange amplitude dies quickly when the energy increases, due to the nearly vanishing intercept of the $`\pi `$ trajectory. It contributes dominantly in the $`\omega `$ channel (Fig. 1), due to the relative size of the radiative coupling constants: $`g_{\omega \pi \gamma }=0.334`$, $`g_{\rho \pi \gamma }=0.136`$, $`g_{\varphi \pi \gamma }=0.0301`$. In the $`\varphi `$ channel, $`\eta `$ exchange may also be considered , but due to the actual size of the coupling constants it contributes at the same level as the $`\pi `$ exchange and is negligible.

In the $`\rho `$ production channel, $`\sigma `$ exchange cannot be excluded near threshold. The amplitude follows the expression of Ref. , but with a degenerate Regge propagator. The radiative coupling constant has been adjusted in order to accommodate the highest values of the experimental cross section, but the spread of the data can also be accounted for by the $`f_2`$ exchange alone.

It is remarkable that such a simple model reproduces over two decades the energy variation of the cross section of the three channels, at the expense of only one parameter, the relative strength of the $`f_2`$ effective coupling. All the other inputs (Pomeron quark or $`\pi `$N couplings, radiative couplings, Regge trajectories, …) are determined from other channels. As illustrated in Fig. 2, it naturally reproduces the forward angle cross-sections as well as the shrinking of the diffractive peak when the energy increases from the SLAC  to the HERA  domain (dotted lines).

However, it underestimates the experiment at large transfer $`t=(P_Vq)^2`$: above $`t=0.5`$ GeV2 in the HERA energy range and $`t=1`$ GeV2 in the JLab/SLAC energy range. Here, the impact parameter ($`b1/\sqrt{t}0.2`$ fm when $`t=1`$ GeV2) becomes comparable or smaller to the gluon correlation length ($`a0.2÷0.3`$ fm)— the distance over which a gluon can propagate: two gluons can be exchanged between a quark in the vector meson and a quark in the proton, without being forced to recombine into a Pomeron. Larger momentum transfers also select configurations where the transverse distance between the two quarks, which must recombine into the vector meson, is small: each gluon can also couple to a different quark. As demonstrated in Ref. , the interference between these two mechanisms leads to a characteristic node, around $`t2÷2.5`$ GeV2, in the two gluon exchange cross-section (dashed lines). The color singlet nature of the $`q\overline{q}`$ pair imposes such a destructive interference. It is worth noting that such a cancellation is at the origin of color transparency : the weakening of the interaction between white objects of which the transverse size vanishes. On the same token, each gluon can also couple to a different quark inside the nucleon target, giving access to correlations between quarks in its ground state (full lines).

Under the same assumptions, and with the same notations, as in Ref.  the two gluon amplitude takes the form:

$`𝒯_{2g}={\displaystyle \frac{6\sqrt{6}m_Ve_qf_V}{8\pi }}[2pqϵ_Vϵ+2ϵ_Vpϵ(qP_V)`$ (8)
$`2ϵ_Vqϵp+{\displaystyle \frac{Q^2+m_V^2t}{pq}}ϵ_Vpϵp]`$ (9)
$`{\displaystyle dl^2[4\pi \alpha _sD(l^2+\frac{1}{4}t)]^2[F_1(t)F_1(3l^2+\frac{t}{4})]}`$ (10)
$`\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{Q^2+m_V^2t}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{Q^2+m_V^24l^2}}\right)`$ (11)
where the integral runs over the transverse momentum $`l^2`$ of the exchanged gluons. It follows from the works of Refs.  and is the same as the expression derived in Ref. , except that, instead of a pertubative propagator, a dressed gluon propagator  is used:

$`\alpha _sD(l^2)={\displaystyle \frac{\beta _0}{\sqrt{\pi }\lambda _0}}\mathrm{exp}\left({\displaystyle \frac{l^2}{\lambda _0^2}}\right),`$ (12)
$`2\pi {\displaystyle _{\mathrm{}}^0}dl^2[\alpha _sD(l^2)]^2=\beta _0^2`$ (13)
The value  of the range parameter $`\lambda _0^2=2.7`$ GeV2 corresponds to a gluon correlation length $`a0.19`$ fm.

The gauge invariant expression in the first square bracket results from the trace in the parton loops, assuming that the constituent quarks of the vector meson are frozen. In Refs. , the two gluons were assumed to couple to the same quark of the nucleon, the structure of which being taken into account by the experimental value of the isoscalar form factor

$`F_1(t)={\displaystyle \left[\mathrm{d}\beta _j\mathrm{d}\stackrel{}{r_j}\right]\delta (\beta _j\stackrel{}{r_j})\delta (\beta _j1)}`$ (14)
$`|\mathrm{\Psi }(\beta _j,\stackrel{}{r_j})|^2e^{i\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Delta }}\stackrel{}{r_k}}`$ (15)
where the nucleon wave function $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$ depends upon the transverse coordinate $`\stackrel{}{r_j}`$ and the fraction of the longitudinal momentum $`\beta _j`$ carried by the quark $`j`$, and where $`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Delta }}^2=t`$. When each gluon is allowed to couple to a different quark, the structure of the nucleon enters eq. 11 through the correlation function

$`G(\stackrel{}{k_a},\stackrel{}{k_b})={\displaystyle \left[\mathrm{d}\beta _j\mathrm{d}\stackrel{}{r_j}\right]\delta (\beta _j\stackrel{}{r_j})\delta (\beta _j1)}`$ (16)
$`|\mathrm{\Psi }(\beta _j,\stackrel{}{r_j})|^2e^{i\stackrel{}{k_a}\stackrel{}{r_k}+i\stackrel{}{k_b}\stackrel{}{r_l}}`$ (17)
Where $`\stackrel{}{k_a}=\stackrel{}{l}+\frac{1}{2}\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Delta }}`$ and $`\stackrel{}{k_b}=\stackrel{}{l}\frac{1}{2}\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Delta }}`$ are the momenta of the exchanged gluons. Under the assumption that the gluons couple to valence quarks equally sharing the longitudinal momentum, the nucleon wave function takes the form

$`\mathrm{\Psi }(\beta _j,\stackrel{}{r_j})\left({\displaystyle \delta (\beta _i\frac{1}{3})}\right)\mathrm{exp}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\stackrel{}{r_i}^2}{r_N^2}}\right)`$ (18)
and the correlation function can be expressed  as the isosclar form factor at a different argument

$`G(\stackrel{}{k_a},\stackrel{}{k_b})=F_1(3l^2+{\displaystyle \frac{t}{4}})`$ (19)
Each of the two last terms in eq. 11 corresponds to the propagator of the quark which is off-shell in the vector meson loop, when the two gluons couple either to the same quark or to two different quarks.

Eq. 11 exhibits in a compact way the main features of the two gluon exchange mechanisms, without free parameters. The strength, $`\beta _0^2=4`$ GeV2, of the effective coupling of the gluon to the nucleon is determined by the analysis of the nucleon-nucleon scattering, the range parameter $`\lambda _0^2`$ of the gluon dressed propagator corresponds to a reasonable value of the gluon correlation length, and the correlated structure of the nucleon enters through the experimental values of its form factor. It provides us with a solid starting ground for looking for such a mechanism in experiments.

A recent experiment performed at HERA  confirms this picture. As shown in Fig. 2, these data clearly favor two gluon exchange above $`t=0.5`$ GeV2 but, due to the statistics, cannot distinguish between the two extreme two gluon curves. They differ above $`t=1`$ GeV2 where a old experiment performed at SLAC , at lower energy, confirms that the mechanism which dominates at high momentum transfer is the coupling of each gluon to two different quarks both in the vector meson and in the nucleon.

However, quark exchange cannot be excluded in the $`\rho `$ production channel, in the SLAC/CEBAF energy range. Their contribution has been evaluated using saturating Regge trajectories ($`\alpha _M(\mathrm{})=1`$) in the $`\pi `$, $`f_2`$ and $`\sigma `$ meson exchange amplitudes, as explained in Ref. . The $`\pi `$ exchange process leads to a contribution too small by two orders of magnitude. The $`f_2`$ exchange leads to a vanishing contribution, due to the signature $`1+e^{i\pi \alpha _{f_2}(t)}`$ of its undegenerated trajectory. Only $`\sigma `$ exchange may lead to a contribution comparable to the data, but this is unconclusive due to the uncertainty on the amount of its contribution at low energy (cf. Fig. 1).

Due to its dominant $`s\overline{s}`$ component, quark exchange mechanisms are strongly suppressed in $`\varphi `$ photoproduction, making this channel the most suitable place to look for gluon exchanges. Fig. 3 compares model predictions to data recently obtained at HERA  as well as previous data (see  for references) in the JLab energy range. As in the $`\rho `$ channel, the Regge model reproduces the data up to $`t=0.5`$ GeV2 in the HERA energy range and $`t=1`$ GeV2 in the JLab energy range, and underestimate the data above. At high transfer the HERA data clearly prefer the two gluon exchange model, but are unable to distinguish between its two extreme versions. This is the goal of JLab experiment 93-031, which has been recently completed  in the domain $`3E_\gamma 5.5`$ GeV, $`1t6`$ GeV2. It is remarkable that the preliminary results  fall on the full curve in the bottom panel of Fig. 3. A detailed comparison with those data will be available in the experimental paper .

At backward angles (largest $`t`$ but smallest $`u`$) exchange of baryons in the u-channel may contribute in the JLab energy range. Only the exchange of the nucleon Regge trajectory is allowed in the $`\varphi `$ (as well as $`\omega `$) channel. The spatial part of the amplitude is as follows:

$`𝒯_N=i{\displaystyle \frac{e\mu _pg_V(1+\kappa _V)}{2m}}\left(\chi _f\left|\stackrel{}{\sigma }\stackrel{}{k}\times \stackrel{}{ϵ}\stackrel{}{\sigma }\stackrel{}{P_V}\times \stackrel{}{ϵ_V}\right|\chi _i\right)`$ (20)
$`\left({\displaystyle \frac{s}{s_1}}\right)^{\alpha _N(u)\frac{1}{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{\pi \alpha _N^{}(1e^{i\pi (\alpha _N(u)+\frac{1}{2})})}{2\mathrm{sin}(\pi (\alpha _N(u)+\frac{1}{2}))\mathrm{\Gamma }(\alpha _N(u)+\frac{1}{2})}}`$ (21)
where the non degenerate nucleon trajectory is $`\alpha _N(t)=0.37+\alpha _N^{}t`$, with $`\alpha _N^{}=0.98`$ GeV-2. This amplitude leads to a good accounting of the backward angle cross-section in the $`\omega `$ channel  where all the coupling constants are fixed. In the $`\varphi `$ production channel, the dot-dashed curve in Fig. 3 results from the SU3 choice of the unknown $`\varphi `$NN coupling constant $`g_V(1+\kappa _V)`$. In the rho channel, the $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ degenerate trajectory  may be exchanged: it interferes with nucleon exchange and leads to a good account of the backward angle $`\rho `$ meson photoproduction (dot-dashed line in Fig. 2).

In the highest part of the JLab energy range, the $`u`$-channel exchange backward peak and the diffractive forward peak are far enough to leave room for hunting gluon exchange processes, and studying the structure of the proton. It remains to investigate whether effects, which are negligible at higher energies, play a role: real part of the amplitude, motion of the quarks in the vector meson loop , full energy dependence , etc…

In summary, two gluon exchange mechanisms are good candidate to understand vector meson photoproduction at large $`t`$. The model which we have developed provides a good starting ground as it incorporates the basic features and its inputs are strongly constrained by other channels. It reproduces data recently obtained in two extreme energy domains: HERA and JLab. It provides us with a tool to investigate quark correlations in the nucleon ground state and to test more realistic wave functions.

Discussions with M. Diehl and M. Vanderhaeghen are greatly acknowledged.


text:
# Collective Modes in Strongly Coupled Elecronic Bilayer Liquids

## Abstract

We present the first reliable calculation of the collective mode structure of a strongly coupled electronic bilayer. The calculation is based on a classical model through the $`3^{rd}`$ frequency-moment-sum-rule preserving Quasi Localized Charge Approximation, using the recently calculated Hypernetted Chain pair correlation functions. The spectrum shows an energy gap at $`k=0`$ and the absence of a previously conjectured dynamical instability.

Electronic bilayers exhibit a rich pattern of behavior, both on the static and on the dynamic level. While at high $`r_s`$ values ($`r_s>r_s^{crystal}`$), the bilayer is expected to crystallize (according to , $`r_s^{crystal}20`$), and at very low $`r_s`$ values the RPA description is largely sufficient, the most interesting behavior occurs in the $`1<r_s<r_s^{crystal}`$ domain, where the system is in the liquid state. This is the domain we focus on in this Letter.

The most remarkable feature on the static level is that the system exhibits a series of abrupt structural changes as the ratio of the interlayer distance $`d`$ and the 2D Wigner-Seitz radius $`a`$ is varied . These structural changes parallel the structural phase transitions in the solid phase , but at finite temperature they are also combined with entropy increasing substitutional order-disorder transitions  where particles in layer $`1(2)`$ occupy positions appropriate for particles in layer $`2(1)`$: this is signalled by the two pair correlation functions (PCF) $`h_{11}(r)`$ and $`h_{12}(r)`$ becoming identical as $`d0`$.

The dynamical behavior, the collective mode structure in particular, has been studied by Swierkowski et al. , by Gold , by Zhang and Tzoar , Golden, Kalman and collaborators  and by Moudgil et al. . (Some of these studies pertain to a superlattice \[infinite number of layers\], rather than to a bilayer; in qualitative terms the results can, however, be easily interpreted for the bilayer). Classical bilayer and multilayer structures that form in charged particle traps have also been studied theoretically by Dubin \[12a\] and have recently been observed in ion traps \[12b\]. There are two problematic issues that make the predictions based on the calculations less than reliable . The first issue relates to the approximation technique used: most of the works cited  use methods which violate the $`3^{rd}`$ frequency-moment-sum-rule, whose satisfaction is well recognized  to be an important criterion for providing an acceptable description of the collective mode behavior. The second issue concerns the use of the intralayer and interlayer correlation functions as inputs in all the calculations cited. No reliable pair correlation function (PCF) data - either for classical or quantum bilayer systems - have been available until fairly recently: thus predictions of the collective mode structure (which turns out to be extremely sensitive to the behavior of the inputted PCF) have been compromised from the outset.

In this Letter we present the first consistent and reliable calculation of the collective mode spectrum of a strongly coupled electronic bilayer liquid. Our results show features which are qualitatively different from the weakly coupled RPA results; they also show that earlier claims concerning the possible emergence of a dynamical instability  cannot be supported by a more consistent treatment of the correlations. The calculation is based on a purely classical model: (i) two 2D electron liquids separated by distance $`d`$; (ii) scattering on impurities etc. neglected; (iii) no interlayer tunneling; (iv) the system is described as a binary liquid with interaction potentials $`\phi _{11}(r)=\phi _{22}(r)=e^2/r,\phi _{12}(r)=e^2/\sqrt{(r^2+d^2)}`$. In addition, the model portrays a classical electron liquid where exchange and other quantum effects are neglected: this approximation is reasonable in the strong coupling domain where the particles are well localized. The intralayer coupling is characterized by the parameter $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=e^2/(aT)`$ where $`a=1/\sqrt{(}\pi n)`$ and $`T`$ is the kinetic energy per particle – the temperature in a classical system and $`(1/2)\epsilon _F`$ in a zero temperature 2D electron gas. Hence the equivalence $`\mathrm{\Gamma }2r_s`$. The calculation of the dielectric matrix $`\epsilon _{ij}^{\mu \nu }(𝐤\omega )`$ is carried out in the Quasi Localized Charge Approximation (QLCA), which has been applied successfully for the description of other strongly coupled Coulomb systems ; in the QLCA $`\epsilon (𝐤\omega )`$ becomes a functional of the intralayer and interlayer PCF-s $`h_{11}(r)`$ and $`h_{12}(r)`$ or of the corresponding structure functions $`S_{11}(k)`$ and $`S_{12}(k)`$:

$$\epsilon (𝐤\omega )=𝐈\omega _0^2(ka)[\omega ^2𝐈𝐃(𝐤)]^1$$
(1)
($`\omega _0=(\frac{2\pi e^2n}{ma})^{1/2}`$, the nominal plasma frequency of a single 2D layer) with

$`D_{ij}^{\mu \nu }(𝐤)=`$ (2)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{mA}}{\displaystyle \underset{𝐪}{}}q^\mu q^\nu [\phi _{ij}(q)S_{ij}(|𝐤𝐪|)\delta _{ij}{\displaystyle \underset{l}{}}\phi _{il}(q)S_{il}(q)],`$ (3)
$`𝐈`$ is the identity matrix. In Cartesian space $`\epsilon (𝐤\omega )`$ and similarly $`𝐃(𝐤)`$ are reducible to longitudinal $`\epsilon ^L(𝐃^L)`$ and transverse $`\epsilon ^T(𝐃^T)`$ matrices. The dispersion relation for the longitudinal modes is then obtained from

$$\epsilon ^L(𝐤\omega )=0$$
(4)
which leads to

$$\omega ^2=\omega _0ka(1\pm e^{kd})+D_{11}^L(𝐤)\pm D_{12}^L(𝐤)$$
(5)
With the neglect of retardation effects, the dispersion relation for the transverse modes is derived from

$$\epsilon ^T(𝐤\omega )^1=0$$
(6)
which yields

$$\omega ^2=D_{11}^T(𝐤)\pm D_{12}^T(𝐤)$$
(7)
The $`𝐃`$-functions are to be expressed in terms of the structure functions, according to Eq. 3. These latter have recently been calculated  through the HNC (Hypernetted Chain) integral equation for a wide range of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ and $`d`$ values. Inputting them into the corresponding $`𝐃`$-functions and using the latter in Eqs. 5 and 7 one can generate a full description of the collective mode spectrum. The results are portrayed in Figs. 1-3 and the qualitative features of the collective mode dispersion are summarized below. (The figures are given for $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=40`$, corresponding to $`r_s=20`$: this $`r_s`$ value, while high enough for correlations to be dominant is within the domain of experimental realizability.)

1. The spectrum of collective modes comprises 4 modes: 2 (longitudinal and transverse) in-phase modes (corresponding to the + sign in Eqs. 5 and 7) and 2 (longitudinal and transverse) out-of-phase modes (corresponding to the - sign in Eqs. 5 and 7).

2. The in-phase modes (where the two layers oscillate in unison) are not qualitatively different from the similar modes of an isolated 2D layer . In particular, for $`k0`$ the longitudinal (plasmon) mode has the typical, quasi-acoustic $`\omega \sqrt{k}`$ dispersion, while the transverse (shear) mode is acoustic, $`\omega k`$; both modes are softened by intralayer and interlayer correlations.

3. The out-of-phase modes (where the oscillations of the two layers exhibit a $`180^{}`$ phase difference) are characterized by an $`\omega (k=0)>0`$ energy gap. The physical reason for the existence of an energy gap for layered systems has already been discussed elsewhere . The out-of-phase longitudinal mode in the RPA approximation has been identified as the acoustic plasmon  since for $`k0`$, $`\omega 0`$ as $`k`$. The present calculation clearly shows the marked difference brought about by the strong correlations. Since at $`k=0`$ the isotropy of the system is unbroken, the plasmon and the shear modes share a common gap value.

4. From Eqs. 5 and 7 the gap value can be expressed as

$$\omega ^2(0,d)=\frac{\omega _0^2}{2}\underset{0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}d(qa)(qa)^2e^{qd}S_{12}(q).$$
(8)
With increasing $`d`$ and consequently decreasing interlayer correlations, $`\omega (0)`$ shows a decreasing tendency and it virtually vanishes for $`d>1.5`$ when the separated layers become practically uncorrelated . This downward trend is, however, preceded by a slight upturn for $`0<d<0.16`$ (for $`\mathrm{\Gamma }30`$). Although the details of this behavior are not well understood, it is most likely due to the substitutional disorder that prevails in this region : the eigenfrequencies of the localized modes in the substitutionally disordered phase are expected to be higher than in the substitutionally ordered phase . Within the domain investigated, the $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$-dependence of $`\omega (0)`$ is quite mild, but the QLCA being a strong coupling approximation, no inference concerning the behavior of $`\omega (0)`$ in the moderately coupled ($`\mathrm{\Gamma }<10`$) domain can be drawn from this observation. In fact, it is expected that for low enough $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ values, $`\omega (0)`$ tends to zero to match at $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=0`$ the predicted RPA behavior .

5. For finite $`k`$ values all the four dispersion curves develop an oscillatory behavior, generated by the similar behavior of the inputted structure functions. This behavior has also been identified for the isolated 2D layer \[16, 17b\]. The structure of the out-of-phase plasmon mode is of special interest here: the first sharp roton-like minimum has attracted attention in earlier studies  which were based on the neglect or on a highly approximate treatment of the interlayer correlations. It was suggested that the minimum of $`\omega ^2`$ may dip below $`\omega ^2=0`$ \[5a, 9,11\] or may, at least, reach the close vicinity of $`\omega ^2=0`$ \[5b,5c\]. The former behavior would indicate a dynamical instability (heralding the onset of CDW-type ground state), \[5a, 11\]; the latter has been interpreted as the onset of a new high-$`k`$, low frequency mode \[5b, 5c\]. Our results show that the roton minimum never drops below the value already reached by the dispersion curve of the 2D layer. The consistent treatment of the interlayer and intralayer correlations thus precludes the existence of the effects conjectured in , virtually independently of any other approximation used.

6. At high k-values, for a given $`d`$ all the dispersion curves approach the same asymptotic frequency value, the frequency of a localized mode, a particle oscillating in the screening environment of the two layers:

$`\omega ^2(\mathrm{},d)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{mA}}{\displaystyle \underset{𝐪}{}}[\phi _{11}(q)(S_{11}(q)1)+\phi _{12}(q)S_{12}(q)]q^2`$ (9)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\omega _0^2}{4}}{\displaystyle \underset{0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}d(qa)(qa)^2[S_{11}(q)1+S_{12}(q)e^{qd}]`$ (10)
This result is, probably, only of academic interest, since it is unlikely that high-k modes would survive the damping mechanism operating in the system.

The QLCA is not geared to describe damping processes and therefore our calculation fails to provide information on the damping of the collective modes. However, some qualitative statements can be made. We concentrate on the out-of-phase modes only. There are three major damping mechanisms to be considered. These are (i) single pair excitation (Landau damping), (ii) multiple pair excitations and (iii) diffusive-migrational damping . The effect of the single pair excitations can be easily assessed from Figs. 1 and 2. Both of them show the pair excitation domain: it is clear that as long as the layer separation is not too large ($`d/a<1.5`$) for small k values both the out-of-phase plasmon and shear modes are well outside the continuum and are thus immune to Landau-damping. In a highly correlated plasma multi-particle excitations are, however, also operative, with increasing importance at higher $`k`$ values. The $`k\mathrm{}`$ portion of the dispersion curve emerging from the continuum would probably be heavily damped by this process. The diffusive-migrational shifting of the quasi-sites  can originate from quasi-thermal diffusion or from tunneling between neighboring minima of the fluctuating potential. For $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ sufficiently high ($`\mathrm{\Gamma }40`$, i.e. $`r_s20`$, probably close to crystallization ), the latter effect should be significantly diminished. The former, however, is sizable when its characteristic time becomes comparable with the period of the mode under consideration. Based on our earlier estimate  of the lowest surviving oscillation frequency, $`\omega _{min}`$ and on the MD results of Ref. (see also ) concerning the lowest propagating wave-number value for the shear mode, one can conclude that for $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=40`$ ($`r_s=20`$) the $`d/a<0.8`$ domain and for $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=20`$ ($`r_s=10`$) the $`d/a<0.6`$ domain can be safely assumend not to be seriously affected by this damping mechanism for either of the modes. (cf Fig. 1/a). For higher $`d`$ values the gap frequency $`\omega (0)`$ is below $`\omega _{min}`$ and thus the shear mode would be propagating for $`\omega >\omega _{min}`$ only; in the domain $`\omega <\omega _{min}`$ the longitudinal mode would be stripped of its correlational features and would revert to an RPA type acoustic plasmon with $`\omega (k0)0`$. (cf. Fig. 1/b).

The collective mode structure of the strongly coupled bilayer liquid presented in this Letter bears a close relationship to the phonon spectrum of the bilayer solid, recently calculated by Goldoni and Peeters . The four modes in the solid phase can be identified as the transverse acoustic and the longitudinal quasi-acoustic ($`\sqrt{k}`$) phonons and the transverse and longitudinal optical phonons. The “gaps“ exhibited by the latter are, in general, different because of the anisotropy of the lattice. In contrast, in the liquid state, there is only one single isotropic gap, as determined in this Letter. This liquid gap value is typically slightly above the arithmetic average of the optical frequencies of the transverse and longitudinal phonons, in the solid phase.

Concerning the possible observation of the features predicted in this Letter, one can suggest three main areas that should lend themselves to direct experimental verification: (1) the existence and the nonmonotonic $`d`$-dependence of the $`k=0`$ energy gap; (2) the existence of a transverse shear excitation with a high frequency and expected low damping (this is in a sharp contrast to the usual scenario for the shear mode in the liquid phase, which vanishes for $`k0`$ ; (3) the non-existence of the predicted  instability or low frequency mode in the vicinity of the first roton minimum. We note that the reported Raman scattering experiments  are inconclusive because of the low $`r_s`$ and relatively high $`k`$ values involved. Recent advances in fabricating high $`r_s`$ samples  and small layer separation should render the suggested experiments feasible.

In summary, we have obtained a comprehensive picture of the collective mode structure of an electronic bilayer in the strongly coupled liquid phase. This structure is qualitatively different both from that of the weakly coupled bilayer electron gas (describable in the RPA) and from the phonon spectrum of the bilayer solid and exhibit a number of remarkable features which should be experimentally verifiable. The calculation avoids the pitfalls of earlier approaches which stem from the inconsistencies in the approximations used for the interlayer and for the intralayer PCF-s, and from the violation of the $`3^{rd}`$ frequency-moment-sum rule.

We wish to thank Dan Dubin for making his unpublished results available to us. GK is grateful to Tom O’Neil for making possible his stay at UCSD, where this work was started. We thank Hongbo Zhao for help in preparation of the Figures. This work has been partially supported by DOE Grants DE-FG02-98ER54501 and DE-FG02-98ER54491.