King, Gregory2014-12-232014-12-2320142014-12-23http://hdl.handle.net/1828/5809The measurement of the ratio of the branching fractions of Υ (3S) decays into τ leptons over dimuons (R τ /μ = B(Υ (3S) → τ + τ − )/B(Υ (3S) → μ + μ − )) is a test of lepton universality. A violation of lepton universality would be evidence of new physics (and possibly of a light CP-odd Higgs boson). A sample of Υ (3S) decays (2.408 fb −1 ) collected with the B A B AR detector at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory was used to determine that the ratio R τ /μ is R τ /μ = 1.0385 ± 0.034 ± 0.019. Using the remaining blinded data sample (corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 25.6 fb −1 ) the estimated statistical sensitivity will be 1.1 % and the estimated systematic uncertainty of R τ /μ is 1.9 %. Prior to this work, previous measurements of R τ /μ had an estimated total precision of 10 %.enlepton universalityhigh energy physicsBaBar Collaborationtau leptonmuoncross sectionThesisAvailable to the World Wide Web