New Results from CLEO-II on Hadronic Decays of the Tau Lepton

TL;DR

This paper reports new measurements of semi-hadronic tau lepton decays from CLEO-II data, including branching fractions for various multi-hadron final states, and compares results with theoretical predictions and symmetries.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed measurements of tau decays to multiple hadrons with kaons and compares these with theoretical models and symmetry constraints.

Findings

Branching fractions for tau decays to 2, 3, and 4 hadrons measured.

Observation of decays involving charged and neutral kaons.

Results consistent with theoretical models and symmetry predictions.

Abstract

Results on semi-hadronic decays of the $\tau$ lepton are presented, from studies of $e^+e^-$ annihilation data obtained at the Cornell Electron Storage Ring with the CLEO-II detector. Branching fractions have been measured for decays to two, three and four hadrons, namely $\tau^-\!\!\rightarrow\! \nu_\tau h^-\pi^0$, $\tau^-\!\!\rightarrow\! \nu_\tau h^-h^+h^-$, and $\tau^-\!\!\rightarrow\! \nu_\tau h^-h^+h^-\pi^0$, where $h^\pm$ represents a charged pion or kaon. CLEO-II has also observed decays with charged and/or neutral kaons; preliminary results for branching ratios and structure arising from the decay dynamics are given. Connections are made with predictions derived from theoretical models, the Conserved Vector Current theorem, isospin constraints and sum rules.