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.