COVARIANT TRACE FORMALISM FOR HEAVY MESON S-WAVE TO P-WAVE TRANSITIONS

Heavy meson, s- to p-wave, weak b-->c transitions are studied in the c ontext of the heavy quark effective theory using covariant meson wave functions. We use the trace formalism to evaluate the weak transitions . As expected from heavy quark symmetry, the eight transitions between s- and p-wave states are described in terms of only two universal for m factors which are given in terms of explicit wave function overlap i ntegrals. We present our results in terms of both invariant and helici ty amplitudes. Using our helicity amplitude expressions we discuss rat e formulae, helicity structure functions and joint angular decay distr ibutions in the decays BBAR-->D* (-->(D, D*) + pi) + W- (-->l- v(l)BA R). The heavy quark symmetry predictions for the one pion transitions D*-->(D, D*) + pi are similarly worked out by using trace techniques.