Searches for lepton flavor violating decays $\tau^\pm \to \ell^\pm\gamma$, $\tau^\pm \to \ell^\pm P^0$ (where $\ell^- = e^-, \mu^-$, and $P^0$ = $\pi^0, \eta, \eta^{\prime}$) at B-Factories: Status and Combinations

Abstract

The present experimental status of searches for lepton flavor violating decays of the $\tau$ lepton to a lighter mass lepton and a photon or a pseudoscalar meson is presented. The results obtained are from $e^+e^-$ annihilation data collected at a center-of-mass energy near 10.58 GeV by the \babar and the Belle detectors. In order to benefit from larger available datasets, the first $\babar-$Belle combinations of upper limits on the branching fractions of lepton flavor violating $\tau$-decays are obtained.