EXTRACTING VERTICAL-BAR-V-BC-VERTICAL-BAR, M(C) AND M(B) FROM INCLUSIVE D-DECAY AND B-DECAY

Using recent results for nonperturbative contributions to the B and D meson inclusive semileptonic widths, a model independent extraction of \V-bc\, m(c) and m(b) is made from the experimentally measured B and D lifetimes and semileptonic branching ratios. Constraining the parame ters of the HQET at Sigma(1/m(Q)(2)) by the D semileptonic width, \V-b c\ is found to lie in the range 0.040<\V-bc\< 0.057. The c and b quark masses are not well constrained due to uncertainty in the relevant sc ale of alpha(s). These results assume the validity of perturbative QCD at the low scales relevant to semileptonic charm decay. Without makin g this assumption, somewhat less stringent bounds on V-bc from B decay alone may be obtained.