A THEORETICAL PREDICTION FOR EXCLUSIVE DECAYS B-]K(K-ASTERISK)ETA(C)

The decay rates for the exclusive B decays B --> K eta(c) and B --> K*eta(c) are calculated in the context of the heavy quark effective theory. We obtain Gamma(B --> K eta(c))/Gamma(B --> K psi) = 1.6 +/- 0.2 and Gamma(B --> K*eta(c))/Gamma(B --> K*psi) = 0.39 +/- 0.04. These results lead to estimates BR(B --> K eta(c)) = (0.11 +/- 0.02)% and BR(B --> K*eta(c)) = (0.05 +/- 0.01)% if we use the central current experimental values for B --> (K,K*)psi branching ratios.