Measurement of the tau lifetime

Abstract

Using a high-statistics sample of τ-pair events collected with the CLEO detector operating at the Cornell Electron Storage Ring at √s =10.5 GeV, we have measured ${\tau }_{\tau }$=(3.25±0.14±0.18) ×${10}^{\mathrm{-}13}$ sec. The experimental method for determining the lifetime includes both the reconstruction of decay vertices and the impact-parameter technique.