Study of single top production at high energy electron positron colliders

TL;DR

This paper evaluates the significance of single top production at future high-energy electron-positron colliders, highlighting its impact on top quark studies and the importance of inclusive processes.

Contribution

It demonstrates that single top production rates are substantial and can interfere with top pair measurements, emphasizing the need to consider inclusive processes in analyses.

Findings

Single top production rate is significant across various energies.

Single top production can affect top quark mass measurements.

Inclusive $e^+e^- ightarrow W^+bW^-ar{b}$ process is crucial for accurate top studies.

Abstract

The effect of single top production on the study of top quark pair production in future high energy electron--positron colliders is evaluated. The rate of the single top quark production process is sizeable throughout a large range of center-of-mass energies and cannot easily be distinguished from the dominant pair production process. We discuss the impact on the top quark mass extraction from a scan through the pair production threshold and the determination of top quark form factors in the continuum. These results advocate for the exploration of the inclusive $e^+e^-\rightarrow W^+bW^-\bar{b}$ process, that includes both top quark pair and single top quark production.