Study of 3-prong Hadronic $τ$ Decays with Charged Kaons

Abstract

Using a sample of 4.7/fb integrated luminosity accumulated with the CLEO-II detector at the Cornell Electron Storage Ring (CESR), we have measured the branching fractions of the tau lepton into $K^- h^+ π^- ν_τ$ and $K^- K^+ π^- ν_τ$ relative to $h^- h^+ h^- ν_τ; K^- h^+ π^- π^0ν_τ$ and $K^- K^+ π^- π^0ν_τ$ relative to $h^- h^+ h^- π^0 ν_τ$. The relative branching fractions are: (5.16+-0.20+-0.50)*$10^{-2}$, (1.52+-0.14+-0.29)*$10^{-2}$, (2.54+-0.44+-0.39)*$10^{-2}$ and $<0.0154$ at 95% C.L., respectively. Coupled with additional experimental information, we use our results to extract information on the structure of three-prong tau decays to charged kaons.