QCD analysis of hadronic $\tau$ decays revisited

The calculation of perturbative corrections to the spectral moments observable in hadronic \tau decays is reconsidered. The exact order-\alpha_s^3 results and the resummation procedure of Le~Diberder and Pich are compared with a partial resummation of the perturbative series based on the analysis of so-called renormalon chains. The perturbative analysis is complemented by a model-independent description of power corrections. For the contributions of dimension four and six in the OPE, it is demonstrated how infrared renormalon ambiguities in the definition of perturbation theory can be absorbed by a redefinition of nonperturbative parameters. We find that previous determinations of QCD parameters from a measurement of spectral moments in \tau decays have underestimated the theoretical uncertainties. Given the present understanding of the asymptotic behaviour of perturbation theory, the running coupling constant can be measured at best with a theoretical uncertainty \delta\alpha_s(m_\tau^2)\simeq 0.05, and the gluon condensate with an uncertainty of order its magnitude. Two weighted integrals of the hadronic spectral function are constructed, which can be used to test the absence of dimension-two operators and to measure directly the gluon condensate.