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In this paper, we analyze the top-quark decay $t\to Wb$ up to next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order (N$^{3}$LO) QCD corrections. For the purpose, we first adopt the principle of maximum conformality (PMC) to deal with the initial pQCD series. Then we adopt the Bayesian analysis approach, which quantifies the unknown higher-order terms' contributions in terms of a probability distribution, to estimate the possible magnitude of the uncalculated N$^{4}$LO-terms. In our calculation, an effective strong coupling constant $\alpha_{s}(Q_{*})$ is determined by using all non-conformal $\{\beta_{i}\}$ terms associated with the renormalization group equation. This leads to a next-to-leading-log PMC scale $Q_{*}^{(\rm NLL)}=10.3048$ GeV, which can be regarded as the correct momentum flow of the process. Consequently, we obtain an improved scale-invariant pQCD prediction for the top-quark decay width, e.g. $\Gamma_{t}^{\rm tot} = 1.3120 \pm 0.0038$ GeV, whose error is the squared average of the uncertainties from the decay width of $W$-boson $\Delta \Gamma_{W} = \pm 0.042$ GeV, the coupling constant $\Delta \alpha_{s}(m_{Z}) = \pm 0.0009$, and the predicted N$^{4}$LO-terms. The magnitude of the top-quark pole mass greatly affects the total decay width. By further taking the PDG top-quark pole mass error from cross-section measurements into consideration, e.g. $\Delta m_{t} = \pm 0.7$ GeV, we obtain $\Gamma_{t}^{\rm tot} = 1.3120 ^{+0.0194}_{-0.0192}$ GeV., Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures

In the paper, we present a calculation of the decay widths for the Higgs boson decays to the $B_c$, $B_c^*$, $B_c(2^1S_0)$ and $B_c^*(2^3S_1)$ mesons using the fragmentation-function approach. In the calculation, the fragmentation functions up to order $\alpha_s^3$ based on the nonrelativistic QCD factorization theory are used, and the decay widths for $H\to Q+X$ and $H \to g+X$ at the partonic level are calculated up to order $\alpha_s$. The large logarithms of $m_H^2/m_{Bc}^2$ are resummed up to next-to-leading logarithmic accuracy by solving the evolution equations for the running quark masses and the fragmentation functions. Compared to the leading-order decay widths based on the nonrelativistic QCD approach, the decay widths based on the fragmentation-function approach that include the higher-order QCD corrections are reduced significantly. Our numerical results show that there are about $1.2\times 10^5$ $B_c$ events via the Higgs decays to be produced at the HL-LHC with $3ab^{-1}$, and about $1.6\times 10^6$ $B_c$ events via the Higgs decays to be produced at the HE-LHC with $15ab^{-1}$., Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures

In this paper, we make a detailed study on the hadronic production of the $\Xi_{bc}$ baryon at a fixed target experiment at the LHC (After@LHC). In estimating the production cross sections, the $(g+g)$, $(g+c)$ and $(g+b)$ production mechanisms are considered. For the initial heavy quarks, in addition to the extrinsic component, we also consider the intrinsic component. It is found that the $(g+c)$ and $(g+b)$ production mechanisms give sizable contributions to the $\Xi_{bc}$ production, and the $(g+b)$ mechanism dominates the production. The results show that there are about $3.40\times10^5$ $\Xi_{bc}$ events can be produced per year at After@LHC if the integrated luminosity of After@LHC can be up to $2\,{\rm fb}^{-1}$ per year. Moreover, the intrinsic heavy quarks can have significant impact on the production, which inversely makes the intrinsic component be possibly tested at the After@LHC., Comment: 13 pages, 18 figures

It has been found that at a high luminosity $e^+ e^-$ collider, sizable $\eta_c+c\bar{c}X$ and $\eta_b+b\bar{b}X$ events can be produced when it works around the $Z$ peak. In this paper, we calculate the decay widths of $Z \to \eta_c+c+\bar{c}+X$ and $Z \to \eta_b+b+\bar{b}+X$ up to next-to-leading order (NLO) accuracy. We find that the NLO corrections are significant in these two processes. After including the NLO corrections, the decay widths of $Z \to \eta_c+c+\bar{c}+X$ and $Z \to \eta_b+b+\bar{b}+X$ are enhanced by about $37\%$ and $28\%$ for the case of $\mu_R=2m_c$ and $\mu_R=2m_b$, respectively. The differential decay widths $d\Gamma/ds_1$ and $d\Gamma/dz$ for these two decay processes are also analyzed., Comment: 10 pages, 11 figures