Measurement of the Tau Lifetime at SLD

Abstract

A measurement of the lifetime of the tau lepton has been made using a sample of 1671 $Z^0\rightarrow\tau^+\tau^-$ decays collected by the SLD detector at SLC. The measurement benefits from the small and stable collision region at SLC and the precision vertex detector of SLD. Three analysis techniques have been used: decay length, impact parameter, and impact parameter difference methods. The combined result is $\tau_\tau = 297\pm 9(stat.)\pm 5(syst.)$ fs.