The tensor force in Heavy Quark Effective Theory

Abstract

We extend the formalism of Leibovich, Ligeti, Stewart and Wise in the 1/m_Q expansion of Heavy Quark Effective Theory for the B semileptonic decays into excited D[(3/2)^+] mesons to the opposite parity states D[(3/2)^-]. For D[(3/2)^+] the 1/m_Q current perturbation dominates over the leading term at zero recoil, while for D[(3/2)^-] the 1/m_Q perturbation due to L_mag dominates also at zero recoil. We show that the corresponding 1/m_Q magnetic coupling is proportional to the mixing between the states D[(3/2)^-] and D[(1/2)^-] induced by the tensor force. We point out some subtleties that appear in this respect in HQET.