Isospin-breaking corrections to $\tau^- \to \pi^- \pi^0 \nu_\tau$ decays and the muon $g-2$

TL;DR

This paper refines the isospin-breaking and electromagnetic corrections to tau decay data, improving the accuracy of the muon g-2 theoretical prediction and reducing the discrepancy with experimental measurements.

Contribution

It extends previous analyses using ChPT with resonances, leading to improved agreement between tau decay and e+e- data for muon g-2 calculations.

Findings

Enhanced agreement between tau decay and e+e- data.

Reduced discrepancy between SM prediction and experimental muon g-2.

Better consistency with Vector Dominance Model estimates.

Abstract

We review the isospin-breaking and electromagnetic corrections to the $\tau^- \to \pi^- \pi^0 \nu_\tau$ decays, which are used as an input to the two-pion contributions to the hadronic vacuum polarization (at LO) of the anomalous magnetic moment ($a_\mu$). We extend previous analyses by Cirigliano et al. working with ChPT with resonances. As an outcome, we improve the agreement between this determination and the other based on $e^+e^-$ data. The new results are in better agreement with an old estimation that uses Vector Dominance Model (VMD), and the discrepancy between the SM prediction and the combined results from BNL and FNAL is reduced to $2.1\,\sigma$ at $\mathcal{O}(p^4)$ and $2.3\sigma$ at $\mathcal{O}(p^6)$.