Improved tau polarisation measurement

Abstract

Using 22 pb⁻¹ of data collected at LEP in 1992 on the peak of the Z resonance, the ALEPH collaboration has measured the polarisation of the tau leptons decaying into$ev\bar v, \mu v\bar v$,πν, ρν and a₁ ν from their individual decay product distributions. The measurement of the tau polarisation as a function of the production polar angle yields the two parametersN _τ andN _e, where, in terms of the axial and vector couplingsg _Al andg _Vl,N _l=2g _Vl g_Al/(g ²_Vl +g ² _Al ). This analysis follows to a large extent the methods devised for the 1990 and 1991 data but with improvements which bring a better understanding of the systematic uncertainties. Combining the 1992 measurements with our previously published results yieldsN _τ=0.136±0.012±0.009 andN _e=0.129±0.016±0.005. Assuminge−τ universality, the measurements imply an effective weak mixing angle of sin ² θ ^eff _W =0.2332±0.0014.