Semileptonic B decays to excited charm mesons

Abstract

Exclusive semileptonic B decays to the lightest excited charmed mesons are investigated at order ${\Lambda }_{QCD}/m_Q$ in the heavy quark effective theory. At zero recoil, ${\Lambda }_{QCD}/m_Q$ corrections to the matrix elements of the weak currents can be written in terms of the leading Isgur-Wise functions for the corresponding transition and meson mass splittings. The differential decay rates are predicted, including ${\Lambda }_{QCD}/m_Q$ corrections with some model dependence away from zero recoil. Applications to B decay sum rules and factorization are presented.

Comments: 9 pages, Talk given at Seventh International Symposium On Heavy Flavor Physics, July 7-11, 1997, Santa Barbara