TESTS OF THE INFINITE MASS EFFECTIVE THEORY AND PROPERTIES OF THE CHARMING AND BEAUTIFUL MESONS

Using an operator product expansion (OPE) in the inverse of the heavy quark mass M(Q) and a dispersive approach, we rederive the B and B* couplings and the Isgur-Wise function predicted by the infinite mass effective theory (IMET). We find that, at the subtraction point M(Q) and using VDM for the spectral function, these observables are governed by the universal [qqBAR] light quark condensate. We also find that the corrections induced by finite values of M(c) and M(b) are large and are due to the splitting DELTA(b) between the ground state and its radial excitation. We review the determinations of the different decay constants, couplings and masses from QCD spectral sum rules (QSSR). For f(B) and f(D), we conclude the optimum average: f(B)=(1.59+/-0.09+/-0.27)f(pi) and f(D)=(1.31+/-0.12)f(pi), where the main error is due to the quark mass, while the first one in f(B) is due to the non-perturbative terms and to the choice of the continuum threshold t(c) from the onset of sum rule variable stability until the t(c)-stability regions. We also find that the vector coupling gamma(V) satisfies approximately the IMET M(Q)3/2 mass dependence scaling law, while f(P) obeys in units of GeV: f(P)/f(pi) congruent-to (4.6+/-0.4) M(Q)-1/2(1-1.56/M(Q)+0.88/M(Q)2), for M(Q) greater-than-or-equal-to M(c). We also predict the flavour independence: M(P)-M(Q) congruent-to 0.6-0.7 GeV and M(V)-M(Q) congruent-to 0.7-0.8 GeV of the mass differences between the mesons and the corresponding quark. Finally, we find that the B-->Dev(e) form factor f+(0) congruent-to (0.55+/-0.10) deviates from the naive expectation (f+(0)=1).