Inclusive distributions for heavy-lepton production and decay in electron-positron collisions

We derive certain general features, not sufficiently discussed in the previous literature, of the inclusive distributions of particles from heavy-lepton production and the subsequent decay in e+e- collisions, for both polarized and unpolarized initial beams. We find that, for unpolarized or transversely polarized beams, whenever the mass of the detected particle can be approximately neglected (e.g. pion, kaon), the polar and azimuthal inclusive distributions can be given independently of any dynamical parameter. For general polarization, in the same approximation, one single dynamical parameter specifies the inclusive distributions. In general, the inclusive distribution can be determined, independently of any approximation, when the detected particle originates from a two-body decay tau→x+νsub(tau) of the heavy lepton tau. We discuss in detail such inclusive distributions for general beam polarization and massive or massless νsub(tau). (author)