Review of tau lifetime measurements
arXiv:hep-ex/9811037 · doi:10.1016/S0920-5632(99)00434-X
Abstract
The measurements of the mean lifetime of the tau lepton are reviewed. The conditions for measuring the lifetime at various e+e- colliders are compared and the analysis methods are briefly described. The new developments since the previous Workshop on Tau Lepton Physics are listed. The world average is tau_tau = 290.5 +- 1.0 fs. The LEP experiments dominate this average and have analyzed nearly all of their data. In anticipation of the next era of precision measurements at CLEO and the b factories, the important sources of systematic errors and the treatment of systematic biases are discussed.
Invited talk presented at the Fifth International Workshop on Tau Lepton Physics, Santander, Spain, 14-17 September 1998; 10 pages, 8 figures