Measurement of the branching fractions and the invariant mass distributions for tau(-) -> h(-)h(+)h(-)nu(tau) decays

Abstract

We present a study of tau(-)->pi(-)pi(+)pi(-)nu(tau), tau(-) -> K-pi(+)pi(-)nu(tau), tau(-) -> K-K+ pi(-)nu(tau), and tau(-) -> K-K+K-nu(tau) decays using a 666 fb(-1) data sample collected with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric- energy e(+)e(-) collider at and near a center- of- mass energy of 10.58 GeV. The branching fractions are measured to be B(tau(-)->pi(-)pi(+)pi(-)nu(tau)) = (8.42 +/- 0.00(-0.25)(+0.26)) x 10(-2), B(tau(-)-> K-pi(+)pi(-)nu(tau)) = 3.30 +/- 0.01(-0.17)(+0.16)) x 10(-3), B(tau(-)-> K-K+pi(-)nu(tau)) = (1.55 +/- 0.01(-0.05)(+0.06)) x 10(-3), and B(tau(-)-> K-K+K-nu(tau)), = (3.29 +/- 0.17(-0.20)(+0.19)) x 10(-5), where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic. These branching fractions do not include contributions from modes in which a pi(+)pi(-) pair originates from a K-S(0) decay. We also present the unfolded invariant mass distributions for these decays.