Radiation of Light Fermions in Heavy Fermion Production

Abstract

The rate for the production of a pair of massive fermions in $e^+ e^-$ annihilation plus real or virtual radiation of a pair of massless fermions is calculated analytically. The contributions for real and virtual radiation are displayed separately. The asymptotic behaviour close to threshold and for high energies is given in a compact form. These approximations provide arguments for the appropriate choice of the scale in the ${\cal O}(α)$ result, such that no large logarithms remain in the final answer.

11 pages, LaTex (uses epsf.sty, 4 figures appended as uuencoded ps files). The complete paper, including figures, is also available via anonymous ftp at ftp://ttpux2.physik.uni-karlsruhe.de/ , or via www at http://ttpux2.physik.uni-karlsruhe.de/cgi-bin/preprints/