General tests for t->W(+)b couplings at hadron colliders

The modularity property of the helicity formalism is used to provide amplitude expressions and stage-two spin-correlation functions which can easily be used in direct experimental searches for electroweak symmetries and dynamics in the decay processes t-->W(+)b and (t) over bar-->W+(b) over bar. The formalism is used to describe the decay sequences t-->W(+)b-->(l(+)v)b and t-->W(+)b-->(j(d)(-)j(u))b. Helicity amplitudes for t-->W(+)b are obtained for the most general J(bt)(-) current. Thereby, the most general Lorentz-invariant decay density matrix for t-->W(+)b-->(l(+)v)b or for t-->W(+)b-->(j(d)(-)j(u))b is expressed in terms of eight helicity parameters and, equivalently, in terms of the structures of the J(bt)(-) current. The parameters are physically defined in terms of partial-width intensities for polarized anal states in t-->W(+)b decay. The full angular distribution for the reactions <q(q)over bar> and gg--><t(t)over bar>-->(W(+)b)(W-(b) over bar)-->... can be used to measure these parameters. Since this odds on spin-correlation information from the next stage of decays in the decay sequence, such an energy-angular distribution is called a stage-two spin-correlation function.