## Determining $\alpha_s$ from hadronic $\tau$ decay: the pitfalls of truncating the OPE

Diogo Boito, Maarten Golterman, Kim Maltman, Santiago Peris

SciPost Phys. Proc. 1, 053 (2019) · published 22 February 2019

### Proceedings event

The 15th International Workshop on Tau Lepton Physics

### Abstract

We discuss sum-rule determinations of $\alpha_s$ from non-strange hadronic $\tau$-decay data. We investigate, in particular, the reliability of the assumptions underlying the truncated OPE strategy,'' which specifies a certain treatment of non-perturbative contributions, and which was employed in Refs.~\cite{Pich,Aleph, Opal}. Here, we test this strategy by applying the strategy to the $R$-ratio obtained from $e^+e^-$ data, which extend beyond the $\tau$ mass, and demonstrate that the assumptions underlying this strategy are not, in general, valid. We then present a brief overview of new results on the form of duality-violating non-perturbative contributions, which are conspicuously present in the experimentally determined spectral functions. As we show, with the current precision claimed for the extraction of $\alpha_s$, including a representation of duality violations is unavoidable if one wishes to avoid uncontrolled theoretical errors.

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