FIELD-THEORETIC REALIZATION OF HEAVY MESONS AS COMPOSITE-PARTICLES

We construct a covariant field-theoretic model for the structure of a heavy meson in the heavy quark limit. This model overcomes the limitat ions caused by non-covariance in the light-front quark model, thus it is very useful for studying hadronic matrix elements at arbitrary mome ntum transfers. Furthermore, the model satisfies heavy quark symmetry and provides a suitable framework for the systematic evaluation of hea vy quark symmetry breaking effects caused by 1/m(Q) corrections in the heavy quark effective theory of QCD. The Isgur-Wise function, the dec ay constant, and the axial-vector coupling constant are calculated, an d physically realistic results are obtained.