An OPAL measurement of the tau(-)-> e(-)(nu)over-bar(e)nu(tau) branching ratio

The branching ratio for the decay tau(-) --> e(-)<(nu)over bar>(e)nu(tau) h as been measured using data collected by the OPAL experiment at LEP. In tot al 33073 tau(-) --> e(-)<(nu)over bar>(e)nu(tau) candidates were identified from a sample of 186197 selected tau decays, giving a branching ratio of B -e = (17.81 +/- 0.09 (stat) +/- 0.06 (syst))%. This result is combined with other electroweak measurements to test e - mu and mu - tau universality in charged-current weak interactions at the level of 0.5%. Additionally, a va lue of the strong coupling constant alpha(s)(m(tau)(2)) has been extracted from B-e and evolved to the Z(0) mass scale to give alpha(s)(m(Z)(2)) = 0.1 204 +/- 0.0011 (exp)(-0.0019)(+0.0021) (theory).