On top-pair hadro-production at next-to-next-to-leading order

We study the QCD corrections at next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) to the cross section for the hadronic pair-production of top quarks. We present new results in the high-energy limit using the well-known framework of k(t)-factorization. We combine these findings with the known threshold corrections and present improved approximate NNLO results over the full kinematic range. This approach is employed to quantify the residual theoretical uncertainty of the approximate NNLO results which amounts to about 4% for the Tevatron and 5% for the LHC cross section predictions. Our analytic results in the high-energy limit will provide an important check on future computations of the complete NNLO cross sections. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.