Tau physics at the Z0

The precision study of tau-pair production at the Z0 is an essential ingredient in the investigation of the Standard Model, and in searches for deviations from the Standard Model. The plan of this note is as follows. First they review in section 2 the asymmetry measurements which, in addition to the precision measurement of the tau pair cross section, provide information on the tau (and electron) neutral current couplings. The measurement of the mean polarization of the taus, P/sub tau/, and the tau polarization forward-backward asymmetry, A/sub FB//sup pol/, is summarized in section 3. The Monte Carlo programs that have been developed for tau analysis are discussed in section, and the procedures for data selection developed with the Mark II/SLC PEP data are presented in section 5. Completing the discussion of experimental details, they present in section 6 an analysis of the systematic errors relevant to the measurement of the tau polarization. Finally in section 7 they present a number of possibilities for new physics that might be visible in the tau data at the Z0. 17 references, 8 figures, 6 tables