Tensor mesons produced in tau lepton decays

TL;DR

This paper calculates the branching ratios of tau lepton decays into light tensor mesons and pions, finding the f_2(1270) pi^- mode has the largest branching ratio, while tensor contributions to three-pseudoscalar channels are minimal.

Contribution

It introduces a model for tau decay form factors assuming dominance of virtual tensor meson states, providing new quantitative predictions for branching ratios.

Findings

f_2(1270) pi^- decay has a branching ratio of about 10^-4

Tensor meson contributions to three-pseudoscalar tau decays are small

Results help understand the role of tensor mesons in tau decay channels

Abstract

Light tensor mesons (T = a_2, f_2 and K_2^*) can be produced in decays of tau leptons. In this paper we compute the branching ratios of tau --> T pi nu decays by assuming the dominance of intermediate virtual states to model the form factors involved in the relevant hadronic matrix element. The exclusive f_2(1270) pi^- decay mode turns out to have the largest branching ratio, of O(10^-4) . Our results indicate that the contributions of tensor meson intermediate states to the three-pseudoscalar channels of tau decays are rather small.