A study of the generalized Schwinger model in the Hamiltonian formulation

Semileptonic τ decays to two and three pions are considered. Based on recent data for the pion form factor a new prediction for Γ(τ→vπ^{- 0})/Γ(τ→vev_e) of 1.32±0.05 is derived. The chiral model-supplemented by vector dominance-is used to predict rate and differential distributions for the three pion mode in good agreement with present data. The parity violating asymmetry which has been predicted theoretically and observed experimentally is studied and found to be fairly insensitive towards the details of the model for the hadronic decays.