Study of τ decays involving kaons, spectral functions and determination of the strange quark mass

All ALEPH measurements of branching ratios of τ decays involving kaons are summarized including a combination of results obtained with K0S and K0L detection. The decay dynamics are studied, leading to the determination of contributions from vector K*(892) and K*(1410), and axial-vector K1(1270) and K1(1400) resonances. Agreement with isospin symmetry is observed among the different final states. Under the hypothesis of the conserved vector current, the spectral function for the KKπ mode is compared with the corresponding cross section for low energy e+e- annihilation, yielding an axial-vector fraction of (94+6-8)% for this mode. The branching ratio for τ decay into all strange final states is determined to be B(τ-→X-(S=-1)ντ)=(28.7±1.2) x 10-3. The measured mass spectra of the strange τ decay modes are exploited to derive the S=-1 spectral function. A combination of strange and nonstrange spectral functions is used to determine the strange quark mass and nonperturbative contributions to the strange hadronic width. A method is developed to avoid the bad convergence of the spin zero hadronic component, with the result ms(Mτ2)=(176+46-57) MeV/c2. The evolution down to 1 GeV gives ms(1 GeV2) = (234+61-76)MeV/c2. (orig.)