Heavy quark expansion for the inclusive decay $\overline{B}$ --> $\tau\overline{\nu}$X

We calculate the differential decay rate for inclusive $\bar B\to\tau\ \bar\nu\,X$ transitions to order $1/m_b^2$ in the heavy quark expansion, for both polarized and unpolarized tau leptons. We show that using a systematic $1/m_b$ expansion significantly reduces the theoretical uncertainties in the calculation. We obtain for the total branching ratio ${\rm BR}(\bar B\to\tau\,\bar\nu\,X)=2.30\pm 0.25\%$, and for the tau polarization $A_{\rm pol}=-0.706\pm0.006$. {}From the experimental measurement of the branching ratio at LEP, we derive the upper bound $\lo\leq 0.8\gev^2$ for one of the parameters of the heavy quark effective theory.