Measurement of the tau lifetime

If the tau lepton couples to the charged weak current with universal strength, its lifetime can be expressed in terms of the muon's lifetime, the ratio of the masses of the muon and the tau, and the tau's branching ratio into e anti nu/sub e/ nu/sub tau/ as tau/sub tau/ = tau/sub ..mu../ (m/sub ..mu..//m/sub tau/)/sup 5/ B(tau ..-->.. e anti nu/sub e/nu/sub tau/) = 2.8 +- 0.2 x 10/sup -13/ s. This paper describes the measurement of the tau lifetime made by the Mark II collaboration, using a new high precision drift chamber in contunction with the Mark II detector at PEP. The results of other tau lifetime measurements are summarized.