Nonfactorizable effects in B to charmonium decays

Abstract

Nonleptonic $B$ to charmonium decays generally deviate from the factorization predictions. We study rescattering effects mediated by intermediate charmed mesons in this class of decay modes and, in particular, we consider $B^- \to K^- h_c$ with $h_c$ the $J^{PC}=1^{+-}$ $\bar c c$ meson, relating this mode to $B^- \to K^- \chi_{c0}$. We find ${\cal B}(B^- \to K^- h_c)$ large enough to be measured at the $B$ factories, hence this process could be used to study the poorly known $h_c$.