Tau Decays into Four Pions

We compute branching ratios and invariant mass distributions of the tau decays into four pions. The hadronic matrix elements are obtained by starting from the structure of the hadronic current in chiral limit and then implementing low-lying resonances in the different channels with slowly varying coupling constants. Reasonable agreement with experiment is obtained both for the τ -> v_τ + (4π) decay rates and the e^+e_->(4π) cross sections. We derive a new prediction for the decay rate of τ^- ->v_τ 2π^-π^+π^0 which is significantly lower than a previous one. Furthermore we supply an interface to use our matrix elements within the Tauola Monte-Carlo program.