Next-to-leading order QCD corrections to top quark spin correlations at hadron colliders:: the reactions q(q)over-bar → t(t)over-bar(g)

Future hadron collider experiments are expected to record large to huge samples of (t) over bar (t) over bar events. The analysis of these data with respect to (t) over bar (t) over bar spin-spin correlations requires precise predictions of the production of these quark pairs in a general spin configuration. Therefore we have computed, at next-to-leading order (NLO) in the QCD coupling, the spin density matrices describing (t) over bar (t) over bar production by quark antiquark annihilation, which is the dominant production process at the Tevatron, Moreover we have computed the strength of the (t) over bar (t) over bar spin correlation at NLO, using various spin quantization axes. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.