SEARCHING FOR AN ANOMALOUS (T)OVER-BAR-Q-GAMMA COUPLING VIA SINGLE TOP-QUARK PRODUCTION AT A GAMMA-GAMMA COLLIDER

We investigate the potential of a high-energy gamma gamma collider to detect an anomalous <(t)over bar q gamma> coupling from observation of the reaction gamma gamma --> <t(q)over bar>, <(t)over bar q>, where q = c or u. We find that with b-tagging and suitable kinematic cuts thi s process should be observable if the anomalous coupling kappa/Lambda is no less than about 0.05/TeV, where Lambda is the scale of new physi cs associated with the anomalous interaction. This improves upon the b ound possible from observation of top decays at the Tevatron. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.