There are some indications from recent determinations of the strong coupling constant alpha_s and the gluon condensate that the Operator Product Expansion may not be accurate enough to describe non-perturbative effects in hadronic tau decays. This breakdown of the Operator Product Expansion is usually referred to as being due to ``Duality Violations.'' With the help of a physically motivated model, we investigate these duality violations. Based on this model, we argue how they may introduce a non-negligible systematic error in the current analysis, which employs finite-energy sum rules with pinched weights. In particular, this systematic effect might affect the precision determination of alpha_s from tau decays. With a view to a possible future application to real data, we present an alternative method for determining the OPE coefficients that might help estimating, and possibly even reducing, this systematic error.
We discuss the quantitative impact of duality violations on the determination of the strong coupling constant from hadronic tau decays, based on a preliminary analysis of OPAL data.
It is known that the discrepancy in pion spectral functions extracted from positron-electron annihilation and tau decay leads to different predictions for the muon anomalous magnetic moment. We will show that this discrepancy effects also the extraction of the Cabibbo angle from the hadronic tau decays. The corrections to the tau branching fractions, corresponding to the presence of new centi-weak tensor interactions, allow us to extract the Cabibbo angle from tau decays in agreement with its other precision determinations. Thus a more precise value of |V_us|=0.2246 +/- 0.0012 is obtained and …
The determination of alpha_s from hadronic tau decays is impeded by the fact that two choices for the renormalisation group resummation, namely fixed-order (FOPT) and contour-improved perturbation theory (CIPT), yield systematically differing results. On the basis of a model for higher-order terms in the perturbative series, which incorporates well-known structure from renormalons, it is found that FOPT smoothly approaches the Borel sum for the tau hadronic width, while CIPT is unable to account for the resummed series. An example for the behaviour of QCD spectral function moments, displaying …
ALEPH/OPAL data on the V-A spectral functions from hadronic tau decays are used in connection with a set of Laplace transform sum rules (LSR) for fixing the size of the QCD vacuum condensates up to dimension 18. Our results favour the ones from large-N_c QCD within the Minimal Hadronic Approximation (MHA) and show a violation of about a factor 2-5 of the vacuum saturation estimate of the dimension-six to -ten condensates. We scrutinize the different determinations of the QCD vacuum condensates using tau-decays data. After revisiting some of the existing results, we present coherent values of t…
Recent experimental results on hadronic tau decays into strange particles by the OPAL collaboration are employed to determine V_us and m_s from moments of the invariant mass distribution. Our results are V_us = 0.2208+-0.0034 and m_s(2 GeV) = 81+-22 MeV. The error on V_us is dominated by experiment, and should be improvable in the future. Nevertheless, already now our result is competitive to the standard extraction of V_us from K_e3 decays, and it is compatible with unitarity.
Recent sum rule determinations of |V_us|, employing flavor-breaking combinations of hadronic tau decay data, are significantly lower than either expectations based on 3-family unitarity or determinations from K_ell3 and Gamma[K_mu2]/Gamma[pi_mu2]. We use lattice data to investigate the accuracy/reliability of the OPE representation of the flavor-breaking correlator combination entering the tau decay analyses. The behavior of an alternate correlator combination, constructed to reduce problems associated with the slow convergence of the D = 2 OPE series, and entering an alternate sum rule requir…
In the framework of precision experiments, the search for electric dipole moments and the precise determination of magnetic dipole moments (g-2) have since long been of prime interest. Hadronic decays offer the best accuracy, since only the kinematic information carried by a single neutrino per decay is lost. Thus, they reveal more easily precious information on the helicity of the initial tau lepton. However, in contrast to one- or two-body hadronic final states, the description of hadronic multi-body final states depends on the model for the hadronic current. In this work, we determine how t…
Within the Standard Model Effective Field Theory framework, with operators up to dimension 6, we perform a model-independent analysis of the lepton-flavour-violating processes involving tau leptons. Namely, we study hadronic tau decays and $\ell$--$τ$ conversion in nuclei, with $\ell = e,μ$. Based on available experimental limits, we establish constraints on the Wilson coefficients of the operators contributing to these processes. Our work paves the way to extract the related information from Belle II and foreseen future experiments.
Exclusive hadronic decays of the tau lepton provide an excellent framework to study the hadronization of QCD currents in a non-perturbative energy region populated by many resonances. I give a short review both on the main theoretical tools employed to analyse experimental data and on how Theory compares with Experiment.
The structure of the form factors stemmed from the hadronization of QCD currents in the energy region of the resonances can be explored through the analyses of exclusive hadronic decays of the tau lepton. I give a short review on the later theoretical progress achieved in the description of experimental data.
Within the Standard Model Effective Field Theory framework, with operators up to dimension 6, we perform a model-independent analysis of the lepton-flavour-violating processes involving tau leptons. Namely, we study hadronic tau decays and $\ell$-$τ$ conversion in nuclei ($\ell=e,μ$). Based on available experimental limits, we establish constraints on the Wilson coefficients of the operators contributing to these processes. The related information from Belle II and foreseen future experiments can be easily incorporated into the resulting framework.
Using spectral data from non-strange and strange hadronic tau decays, flavor-breaking chiral sum rules involving the flavor ud and us current-current two-point functions are constructed and used to determine the SU(3) NNLO low-energy constant combinations C_{61}^r, C_{12}^r+C_{61}^r+C_{80}^r and C_{12}^r-C_{61}^r+C_{80}^r. The first of these determinations updates the results of an earlier analysis by Durr and Kambor, while the latter two are new. The error on the C_{12}^r+C_{61}^r+C_{80}^r is particularly small. Comparisons are made to model estimates for these quantities. The role of the thi…
This PhD thesis studies some hadronic and radiative decays of the tau lepton using a Chiral Lagrangian including resonance fields. After a theoretical introduction, the decays to the $(πππ)^-$, $(KKπ)^-$ and $η^{(\prime)} π^- π^0$ hadronic states and $τ\to (π/K)^- γν_tau$ are analysed. Some material, which was not included in the corresponding references, is also discussed: The structure functions analysis for the 3 pion modes, the differential decay width as a function of the two-particle invariant masses in the considered three-meson modes and a simplified study of the $τ\to$η^{(\prime)} π^-…
The QCD analysis of hadronic tau decays is reviewed and a summary of the present phenomenological status is presented. The following topics are discussed: the determination of alpha_s(m_tau) = 0.338 +- 0.012 from the inclusive tau hadronic width, the measurement of |V_us| through the Cabibbo-suppressed decays of the tau, and the extraction of chiral-perturbation-theory couplings from the spectral tau data.
We perform a global analysis of exclusive hadronic tau decays into one and two mesons using the low-energy limit of the Standard Model Effective Field Theory up to dimension six, assuming left-handed neutrinos. A controlled theoretical input on the Standard Model hadronic form factors, based on chiral symmetry, dispersion relations, data and asymptotic QCD properties, has allowed us to set bounds on the New Physics effective couplings using the present experimental data. Our results highlight the importance of semileptonic $τ$ decays in complementing the traditional low-energy probes, such nuc…
Sum rule tests are performed on the spectral data for (i) flavor 'ud' vector- current-induced hadronic tau decays and (ii) e^+ e^- hadroproduction, in the region below s~3-4 GeV^2, where discrepancies exist between the isospin- breaking-corrected charged and neutral current I=1 spectral functions. The tau data is found to be compatible with expectations based on high-scale alpha_s(M_Z) determinations, while the electroproduction data displays two problems. The results favor determinations of the leading order hadronic contribution to (g-2)_mu which incorporate hadronic tau decay data over thos…
The new parameterization of form factors developed for 4pi channels of the tau lepton decay and based on Novosibirsk data on e^+e^- -> 4pi has been coded in a form suitable for the TAUOLA Monte Carlo package. Comparison with results from TAUOLA using another parameterization, i.e. the CLEO version of 1998 is also included.
Exclusive semi-leptonic decays of the tau lepton offer a clean probe to study the hadronization of QCD currents in its non-perturbative regime and learn about resonance dynamics, which drives strong interactions in these processes. In this theory outlook, I will use the simplest non-trivial di-pion tau decays to illustrate briefly recent theoretical progress on these analyses and their comparison to data.
Until present the study of the form factors associated to the vector and axial-vector components of the hadronic weak current has been carried out with a plethora of modelizations of the underlying strong interactions. While of importance to get an understanding of the dynamics involved, the amount and quality of the experimental data start to show some discrepancies with the analysed models. Moreover, and from a theoretical point of view, most of these models are not consistent with quantum chromodynamics (QCD). We propose a QCD-based model-independent procedure to analyse those decays throug…
TAUOLA is a Monte Carlo generator dedicated to generating tau-lepton decays and it is used in the analysis of experimental data both at B-factories and LHC. TAUOLA is a long-term project that started in the 90's and has been under development up to now. In this note we discuss the status of the predominant hadronic tau-lepton decays into two ($Br \simeq 25.52\%$) and three pions ($Br \simeq 18.67\%$).
We provide an overview of recent determinations of the strong coupling, $α_s$, from hadronic $τ$ decays. We contrast two analysis methods, the "truncated-OPE approach" and the "DV-model approach," highlighting the assumptions going into each of these. We argue that a detailed study based on ALEPH data shows the truncated-OPE approach to be quantitatively unreliable, while the DV-model approach passes all tests. New data for hadronic $τ$ decays from Belle and Belle-II could provide more stringent tests of the DV-model approach, and thus potentially lead to a more precise value of $α_s$ from had…
We study the transverse single-spin asymmetries for $p^\uparrow p\to π\, X$ and $p^\uparrow p\to γ\, X$ within the so-called color gauge invariant generalized parton model (CGI-GPM) which, in addition to spin and transverse momentum effects, includes initial and final state interactions with the polarized proton remnants. We compute all relevant contributions, focusing in particular on the process dependence of the gluon Sivers function, which, for these processes, can always be expressed as a linear combination of two independent, universal terms. This study extends and completes a previous o…
The hadronic decay rate of the tau lepton serves as one of the most precise determinations of the QCD coupling alpha_s. The dominant theoretical source of uncertainty at present resides in the seeming disparity of two approaches to improving the perturbative expansion with the help of the renormalisation group, namely fixed-order and contour-improved perturbation theory. In this work it is demonstrated that in fact both approaches yield compatible results. However, the fixed-order series is found to oscillate around the contour-improved result with an oscillation frequency of approximately six…
The status of implementation of new hadronic currents into the Monte Carlo system for simulation of tau-lepton production and decay in high-energy accelerator experiments is reviewed. Since the tau-lepton conference in 2010 substantial progress was achieved: (i) For the TAUOLA Monte Carlo generator of tau-lepton decays, automated and simultaneous use of many versions of form factors for the calculation of optional weights for fits was developed and checked to work in the Belle and BaBar software environment. Alternative parameterizations of hadronic currents based on the Resonance Chiral appro…
We determined the NLO chiral low-energy constant $L_{10}$, and various combinations of NNLO chiral low-energy constants employing recently revised ALEPH results for the non-strange vector (V) and axial-vector (A) hadronic tau decay distributions and recently updated RBC/UKQCD lattice data for the non-strange V-A two-point function. In this talk, we explain the ingredients of this determination. Our errors are at or below the level expected for contributions of yet higher order in the chiral expansion, suggesting that our results exhaust the possibilities of what can be meaningfully achieved in…
We discuss some key issues associated with duality-violating and non-perturbative OPE contributions to the theoretical representations of light quark current-current two-point functions and relevant to precision determinations of alpha_s from hadronic tau decay and electroproduction cross-section data. We demonstrate that analyses with an explicit representation of duality-violating effects are required to bring theoretical errors in such extractions under control, motivating the accompanying paper in these proceedings, which presents the results of such an analysis.
Various complications encountered in the process of attempting to extract the basic Standard Model parameters, m_s and V_us, from hadronic tau decay data are discussed. Preliminary results for V_us, based on sum rules displaying good convergence and stability, are also presented.
We review our recent determination of the strong coupling α_s from the OPAL data for non-strange hadronic tau decays. We find that α_s(m^2_τ) =0.325+-0.018 using fixed-order perturbation theory, and α_s(m^2_τ)=0.347+-0.025 using contour-improved perturbation theory. At present, these values supersede any earlier determinations of the strong coupling from hadronic tau decays, including those from ALEPH data.
Until recently, determinations of alpha_s(M_Z) from hadronic tau decays and the analysis of short-distance-sensitive lattice observables yielded results which, though precise, were not in good agreement. I review new analyses that bring these into good agreement and provide some details on the source of the main changes in the tau decay analysis.
The dispersive approach to QCD and its applications to inclusive tau lepton hadronic decay and hadronic vacuum polarization function are briefly discussed.
We consider CP-violating effects in tau -> 3 pi nu_ tau and 4 pi nu_ tau (Delta S = 0), and tau -> K pi pi nu_tau (Delta S = 1), assuming that the usual Standard Model amplitudes for these processes interfere with analogous amplitudes mediated by a charged Higgs boson. In the Delta S = 0 case we focus specifically on the intermediate resonant processes tau -> V pi nu_tau (with V=omega, rho, and a_1), and consider three CP-odd observables -- the partial rate asymmetry, a polarization-dependent asymmetry and a triple-product asymmetry. In the Delta S = 1 case we examine the partial rate asymmetr…
Evidence is presented for the necessity of including duality violations in a consistent description of spectral function moments employed in the precision determination of $α_s$ from $τ$ decay. A physically motivated ansatz for duality violations in the spectral functions enables us to perform fits to spectral moments employing both pinched and unpinched weights. We describe our analysis strategy and provide some preliminary findings. Final numerical results await completion of an ongoing re-determination of the ALEPH covariance matrices incorporating correlations due to the unfolding procedur…
In the two body hadronic tau decays, such as tau->to K pi (eta)nu, vector mesons play important role. Belle and Babar measured hadronic invariant mass spectrum of tau -> K pi nu decay. To compare the spectrum with theoretical prediction, we develop the chiral Lagrangian with vector mesons in Kimura:2012nx. We compute the form factors of the hadronic tau decay taking account of the quantum corrections of Nambu Goldstone bosons. We also show how to renormalizethe divergence of the Feynman diagrams with arbitrary number of loops and determine the counterterms within one loop using background fiel…
We present an update of the Monte Carlo event generator TAUOLA for tau lepton decays, with substantially increased list of decay channels and new initialization options. The core of the program remains written in FORTRAN but necessary arrangements have been made to allow handling of the user-provided hadronic currents and matrix elements at the execution time. Such solution may simplify preparation of new hadronic currents and may be useful for fitting to the experimental data as well. We have implemented as default for TAUOLA a set of hadronic currents, which is compatible with the default in…
Comparing the results of finite energy and Borel transformed sum rules for the difference of vector and axial vector current correlators we evaluate the instanton contributions to the $τ$ hadronic width. In contrast to an explicit theoretical calculation we find that the instanton contributions to the $τ$ hadronic width are much smaller than the standard nonperturbative corrections.
It has been pointed out recently that current low-energy constraints still allow for sizable flavor-changing decay rates of the 125 GeV boson into leptons, h -> tau ell (ell= e, mu). In this work we discuss the role of hadronic tau-lepton decays in probing lepton flavor violating couplings in the Higgs sector. At low energy, the effective Higgs coupling to gluons induced by heavy quarks contributes to hadronic tau decays, establishing a direct connection with the relevant process at the LHC, pp (gg)-> h -> tau ell. Semileptonic transitions like tau -> ell pi pi are sensitive to flavor-changing…
A critical review of hadronic tau decay data based determinations of |V_{us}| is given, focussing on the impact of the slow convergence of the integrated D=2 OPE series for the conventional flavor-breaking sum rule determination and the potential role of as-yet-unmeasured multiparticle contributions to the strange spectral distribution. Additional information obtainable from analyses of inclusive strange decay data alone, and from mixed electroproduction-tau sum rules with much reduced OPE uncertainties, is also discussed. Self-consistency tests are shown to favor determinations which reduce s…
We examine CP violation in the Delta S=0 decays tau -> omega pi nu_tau and tau -> a_1 pi nu_tau and the Delta S=1 decay tau -> K pi pi nu_tau. We assume that the new physics is a charged Higgs. We show that sizeable CP-violating effects are possible in tau -> a_1 pi nu_tau (polarization-dependent rate asymmetry) and tau -> omega pi nu_ tau (triple-product asymmetry). The Delta S=1 decay tau -> K pi pi nu_tau can proceed via several resonances. We construct two modified rate asymmetries and a triple product asymmetry for this decay and discuss the potential sensitivities of these asymmetries.
The hadronic tau decay channel offers by far the best signature for heavy charged Higgs boson search at the LHC in the large $\tanβ$ region. By exploiting the distinct polarization of the tau and its large transverse mass, along with the accompanying missing--$p_T$, one can probe for a charged Higgs boson up to a mass of about 600 GeV in an essentially background-free environment. The transverse mass distribution of the tau jet also provides a fairly unambiguous estimate of the charged Higgs boson mass.
The new hadronic currents implemented in the TAUOLA library are obtained in the unified and consistent framework of Resonance Chiral Theory: a Lagrangian approach in which the resonances exchanged in the hadronic tau decays are active degrees of freedom included in a way that reproduces the low-energy results of Chiral Perturbation Theory. The short-distance QCD constraints on the imaginary part of the spin-one correlators yield relations among the couplings that render the theory predictive. In this communication, the obtaining of the two- and three-meson form factors is sketched. One of the …
The perturbative quark-mass corrections to the $τ$ hadronic width are analysed to $O(α_s^3 m_q^2)$, using the presently available theoretical information. The behaviour of the perturbative series is investigated in order to assess the associated uncertainties. The implications for the determination of the strange quark mass from $τ$ decay data are discussed.
The weak interaction between the first and second generation of quarks, the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix (CKM) element |Vus|, can be probed using hadronic tau decays. In this paper, we present the recent measurements of hadronic tau decays from BELLE and BABAR and the improvements in the determination of |Vus| from tau decays.
We update the hadronic tau determination of |V_{us}|, showing that current strange branching fractions produce results 2-3 sigma lower than 3-family unitarity expectations. Issues related to the size of theoretical uncertainties and results from an alternate, mixed tau-electroproduction sum rule determination (which, by construction, produces a much smaller theoretical uncertainty), are also considered.
Strongly modified Higgs-photon-photon and Higgs-gluon-gluon couplings indicate new electroweak and color mediators, respectively, with a light mass and a significant coupling to the Higgs boson. We point out the Higgs boson could have a significant decay width into the mediators and propose uncovering the hidden new physics through such exotic decays, which can probe the Higgs coupling with the mediators directly. Focusing on the electroweak mediators, we study a simplified model using as an example final states with tau leptons and neutrinos. Because one of the mediators is off-shell and its …
$τ\toππν$, $τ\toπKν$, $τ\to Kην$, $τ\to 3πν$ and $τ\to ππKν$ have been investigated using chiral symmetry with dispersion relation in agreement with the unitarity condition.
Tau decays into hadrons foresee the study of the hadronization of vector and axial-vector QCD currents, yielding relevant information on the dynamics of the resonances entering into the processes. We analyse tau -> (3 pion) nu_tau decays within the framework of the Resonance Chiral Theory, comparing this theoretical scheme with the experimental data, namely ALEPH spectral function and branching ratio. Hence we get values for the mass and on-shell width of the a_1(1260) resonance, and provide the structure functions that have been measured by OPAL and CLEO-II.
We report on some technical aspects of our calculation of alpha_s^4 corrections to R(s) and the semi-leptonic tau decay width [1-3]. We discuss the inner structure of the result as well as the issue of its correctness. We demonstrate recently appeared independent evidence positively testing one of two components of the full result.
The perturbative quark mass corrections to the tau hadronic width are studied to O(alpha_s^3 m_q^2). Including up to dimension four corrections, we get m_s(4 GeV^2)=(143 \pm 42) MeV [m_s(1 GeV^2)=(193 \pm 59) MeV ]. Possible improvements to reduce the theoretical uncertainty are pointed out.
We re-examine CP violation in the Delta S = 0 decays tau -> N pi nu_tau (N=2,3,4). We assume that the new physics (NP) is a charged Higgs. We show that there is no NP contribution to tau -> pi pi nu_tau, which means that no CP violation is expected in this decay. On the other hand, NP can contribute to tau -> N pi nu_tau (N=3,4). These are dominated by the intermediate resonant decays tau -> omega pi nu_tau, tau -> rho pi nu_tau and tau -> a_1 pi nu_tau. We show that the only sizeable CP-violating effects which are possible are in tau -> a_1 pi nu_tau -> 4 pi nu_tau (polarization-dependent rat…
The inclusive tau lepton hadronic decay is studied within Dispersive approach to QCD. The significance of effects due to hadronization is convincingly demonstrated. The approach on hand proves to be capable of describing experimental data on tau lepton hadronic decay in vector and axial-vector channels. The vicinity of values of QCD scale parameter obtained in both channels bears witness to the self-consistency of developed approach.
Hadronic tau decays belong to the processes that show a resonance-like structure in the axial vector current in the $1-2$ GeV range. This structure, often denoted as the $a_1$ meson, seems to show different properties in different processes. The process $τ\rightarrow 3πν_τ$ allows for a clean separation of weak and strong effects and a clear production mechanism. We examine how this structure can be related to interactions between the three pions that emerge in the final state. In particular we start from the interactions between all two body combinations.
The results of calculation of light gluino contributions to Gamma(Z--->hadrons) and Gamma(tau--->hadrons) to O(alpha_s^3) are presented. The net effect in the case of Z decay is noticeable. For the tau width the effect is very large and, if a light gluino exists, suggests that alpha_s increases by more than 15% relative to the Standard Model analysis.
The mass of the strange quark is determined from SU(3)-breaking effects in the tau hadronic width. Compared to previous analyses, the contributions from scalar and pseudoscalar spectral functions, which suffer from large perturbative corrections, are replaced by phenomenological parametrisations. This leads to a sizeable reduction of the uncertainties in the strange mass from tau decays. Nevertheless, the resulting m_s value is still rather sensitive to the moment of the invariant mass distribution which is used for the determination, as well as the size of the quark-mixing matrix element |V_u…
I report on some recent work done in collaboration with Santi Peris and Boris Phily (hep-ph/0007338) where, using the Aleph data on vector and axial-vector spectral functions, we test simple duality properties of QCD in the large-Nc limit which emerge in the approximation of a {\it minimal hadronic ansatz} of a spectrum of narrow states. These duality properties relate the short- and long-distance behaviours of specific correlation functions, which are order parameters of spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking, in a way that we find well supported by the data.
The high-precision data from hadronic tau decays allows one to extract information on QCD condensates. Using the finalized ALEPH data, we obtain a more rigorous determination of the dimension 6 and 8 condensates for the V-A correlator. In particular, we find that the recent data fix a certain linear combination of these QCD condensates to a precision at the level of O(2%). Our approach relies on more general assumptions than alternative approaches based on finite energy sum rules.
