Single Top Production at the Next Generation Linear e+e- Colliders

Present limits on the top mass from LEP1 and Tevatron point to a top quark that is considerably heavier than the $W$ vector boson in the standard model. Hence, e+e- colliders with \sqrt{s} \simeq 300 GeV (the c.m. energy foreseen at the first phase of the Next Linear e+e- Collider) could be well below the energy threshold for real top-pair production. We argue that, if this is the case, single top production through the process e+e- --> t\bar{b}W- (\bar{t}bW+), where t\bar{b} (\bar{t}b) are produced mainly by means of a virtual W, becomes the dominant top production mechanism. Total cross sections and kinematical distributions are evaluated and numerical results are given in ranges of m_t and \sqrts{s} where single top production can be of relevance. The relative importance of virtual-W and virtual-t contributions to the process is discussed.