In a combined study of the decay spectra of $tau^-to K_Spi^- u_tau$ and $tau^-to K^-eta u_tau$ decays within a dispersive representation of the required form factors, we illustrate how the $K^*(1410)$ resonance parameters, defined through the pole po
sition in the complex plane, can be extracted with improved precision as compared to previous studies. While we obtain a substantial improvement in the mass, the uncertainty in the width is only slightly reduced, with the findings $M_{K^{*prime}}=1304 pm 17,$MeV and $Gamma_{K^{*prime}} = 171 pm 62,$MeV. Further constraints on the width could result from updated analyses of the $Kpi$ and/or $Keta$ spectra using the full Belle-I data sample. Prospects for Belle-II are also discussed. As the $K^-pi^0$ vector form factor enters the description of the decay $tau^-to K^-eta u_tau$, we are in a position to investigate isospin violations in its parameters like the form factor slopes. In this respect also making available the spectrum of the transition $tau^-to K^-pi^0 u_tau$ would be extremely useful, as it would allow to study those isospin violations with much higher precision.
Hadronic tau decays offer the possibility of determining the strong coupling alpha_s at relatively low energy. Precisely for this reason, however, good control over the perturbative QCD corrections, the non-perturbative condensate contributions in th
e framework of the operator product expansion (OPE), as well as the corrections going beyond the OPE, the duality violations (DVs), is required. On the perturbative QCD side, the contour-improved versus fixed-order resummation of the series is still an issue, and will be discussed. Regarding the analysis, self-consistent fits to the data including all theory parameters have to be performed, and this is also explained in some detail. The fit quantities are moment integrals of the tau spectral function data in a certain energy window and care should be taken to have acceptable perturbative behaviour of those moments as well as control over higher-dimensional operator corrections in the OPE.
The investigation of the scalar gluonium correlator is interesting because it carries the quantum numbers of the vacuum and the relevant hadronic current is related to the anomalous trace of the QCD energy-momentum tensor in the chiral limit. After r
eviewing the purely perturbative corrections known up to next-next-to-leading order, the behaviour of the correlator is studied to all orders by means of the large-beta_0 approximation. Similar to the QCD Adler function, the large-order behaviour is governed by the leading ultraviolet renormalon pole. The structure of infrared renormalon poles, being related to the operator product expansion are also discussed, as well as a low-energy theorem for the correlator that provides a relation to the renormalisation group invariant gluon condensate, and the vacuum matrix element of the trace of the QCD energy-momentum tensor.
Recent experimental data for the differential decay distribution of the decay $tau^-to u_tau K_Spi^-$ by the Belle collaboration are described by a theoretical model which is composed of the contributing vector and scalar form factors $F_+^{Kpi}(s)$
and $F_0^{Kpi}(s)$. Both form factors are constructed such that they fulfil constraints posed by analyticity and unitarity. A good description of the experimental measurement is achieved by incorporating two vector resonances and working with a three-times subtracted dispersion relation in order to suppress higher-energy contributions. The resonance parameters of the charged $K^*(892)$ meson, defined as the pole of $F_+^{Kpi}(s)$ in the complex $s$-plane, can be extracted, with the result $M_{K^*}=892.0 pm 0.9 $MeV and $Gamma_{K^*}=46.2 pm 0.4 $MeV. Finally, employing the three-subtracted dispersion relation allows to determine the slope and curvature parameters $lambda_+^{}=(24.7pm 0.8)cdot 10^{-3}$ and $lambda_+^{}=(12.0pm 0.2)cdot 10^{-4}$ of the vector form factor $F_+^{Kpi}(s)$ directly from the data.
