Determination of $m_{s}$ from strange $\tau$ decays

Results of the recent comprehensive ALEPH measurement of tau decays involving kaons, yielding the total strange width R/sub tau , s/ and the strange spectral function, are used in a combination of strange and non-strange spectral moments to determine the strange quark mass and non-perturbative contributions to the strange hadronic width. Two methods with different theoretical uncertainties are employed, depending on whether or not the longitudinal spin zero hadronic component is included, yielding an average of m/sub s/(M/sub tau //sup 2/)=(163/sub -43//sup +34/) MeV/c/sup 2/, where the errors account far experimental, theoretical and fitting uncertainties. The evolution down to 1 GeV gives m/sub s/(1 GeV/sup 2/)=(217/sub -57 //sup +45/) MeV/c/sup 2/. As a cross check, the running of the observables employed down to masses smaller than the tau mass is compared to the theoretical expectation. (28 refs).