Measurement of Branching Fractions and Spectral Functions in tau Decays

Full LEP-I data collected by the ALEPH detector during 1991-1995 running are analyzed in order to measure the tau decay branching fractions and the hadronic spectral functions. The analysis follows the global method used in the published study based on 1991-1993 data, with several improvements, especially concerning the treatment of photons and pi /sup 0/'s. Extensive systematic studies are performed, in order to match the large statistics of the data sample corresponding to 327148 measured and identified tau decays. Preliminary values for the branching fractions are obtained for the 2 leptonic channels and 11 hadronic channels defined by their respective numbers of charged particles and pi /sup 0/'s. Using previously published ALEPH results on final states with charged and neutral kaons, corrections are applied so that branching ratios for exclusive final states without kaons are derived. Some physics implications of the results are given, in particular concerning universality in the leptonic charged weak current, isospin invariance in a/sub 1/decays, and the separation of vector and axial-vector components of the total hadronic rate. Spectral functions are obtained for the main exclusive channels and the total inclusive rate, with separation of the vector and axial-vector states.