Related papers: Measuring $\alpha_s(Q^2)$ in $\tau$ Decays
The $\tau$ decay rate into hadrons of invariant mass smaller than $\sqrt{s_0}\gg\Lambda_{\rm QCD}$ can be calculated in QCD assuming global quark--hadron duality. It is shown that this assumption holds for $s_0>0.7$~GeV$^2$. From…
The hadronic decays of the tau lepton can be used to determine the effective charge alpha_tau(m^2_tau') for a hypothetical tau-lepton with mass in the range 0 < m_tau' < m_tau. This definition provides a fundamental definition of the QCD…
Three important QCD-related aspects of the $\tau$ and $\mu$ dynamics are reviewed: the determination of the strong coupling from the hadronic tau decay width, leading to the updated value $\alpha_s(m_\tau^2) = 0.331 \pm 0.013$; the…
The evolution of the determination of the strong coupling constant $\alpha_s$ from the leptonic branching ratios, the lifetime, and the invariant mass distributions of the hadronic final state of the $\tau$ lepton over the last two decades…
The results of two methods to extract the strong coupling constant, $\alpha_s$, are reviewed for the LEP experiments. In the first, scaling violations in the scaled momentum distributions of charged particles at LEP and at lower energy…
QCD running coupling constant $\alpha_s(m_c)$ and $\alpha_s(m_b)$ are determined from heavy quarkonia $c\overline{c}$ and $b\overline{b}$ decays. The decay rates of $V\rightarrow 3g$ and $V\rightarrow e^+ e^-$ for $V=J/\psi$ and $\Upsilon$…
Using recently developed methods for the evaluation of five-loop amplitudes in perturbative QCD, corrections of order alpha_s^4 for the cross section of electron-positron annihilation into hadrons and for the decay rates of the Z-boson and…
Hadronic tau decays represent a clean laboratory for the precise study of quantum chromodynamics (QCD). Observables (sum rules) based on the spectral functions of hadronic tau decays can be related to QCD quark-level calculations to…
We analytically compute the five-loop term in the beta function which governs the running of $\alpha_s$ --- the quark-gluon coupling constant in QCD. The new term leads to a reduction of the theory uncertainty in $\alpha_s$ taken at the…
The total tau hadronic width can be accurately calculated using analyticity and the operator product expansion. The result turns out to be very sensitive to the value of alpha_s(m_tau^2), providing a precise determination of the strong…
We present a new dispersive framework for the extraction of the strong coupling constant $\alpha_s$ from $\tau$-lepton decays. A new feature of our procedure is the use of the quark-hadron duality on the limited region $s_{\rm…
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…
The calculation of perturbative corrections to the spectral moments observable in hadronic $\tau$ decays is reconsidered. The exact order-$\alpha_s^3$ results and the resummation procedure of Le~Diberder and Pich are compared with a partial…
We review the determinations of the QCD coupling $\alpha_s$ from the inclusive and exclusive modes of $\tau$-decays. The most recent $\tau$-data provide the average value $ \alpha_ s \left(M^2_\tau \right)\simeq 0.347\pm 0.030 $…
We extract the strong coupling constant $\alpha_s(m_\tau^2)$ from the semileptonic $\tau$ decay width taking into account resummation effects from the running of the strong coupling constant. In the $\overline{\rm MS}$ scheme the result…
The branching ratios of the decay of the tau lepton to five charged hadrons have been measured with the OPAL detector at LEP using data collected between 1991 and 1995 at e+e- centre-of-mass energies close to the Z resonance. The branching…
Quantum chromodynamics (QCD) effects in the semileptonic decay b -> c l nu are evaluated to the second order in the coupling constant, O(alpha_s^2), and to several orders in the expansion in quark masses, m_c/m_b. Corrections are calculated…
It has been shown in recent analyses by ALEPH [1] and OPAL [2] that precision QCD tests are possible with hadronic tau decays by comparing spectral moments of the hadronic decay ratio of the tau with QCD calculations. In principle e+e- data…
The Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) coupling, $\alpha_s$, is not a physical observable of the theory since it depends on conventions related to the renormalization procedure. We introduce a definition of the QCD coupling, denoted by…
Sufficiently inclusive observables in the decay of the tau lepton can be calculated using the methods of perturbative QCD. These include the asymmetry parameter $A_\tau$ that determines that angular distribution of the total hadron momentum…