REMARK ON CHARM QUARK FRAGMENTATION TO D-ASTERISK-ASTERISK MESONS

The observed D** mesons have cqBAR flavor quantum numbers and a spin-parity of the light degrees of freedom s(l)pil = 3/2+. In the m(c) --> infinity limit the spin of the charm quark is conserved and the c --> D** fragmentation process is characterized by the probability for the charm quark to fragment to a D** meson with a given helicity for the light degrees of freedom. We consider the calculated b --> B(c)** fragmentation functions in the limit m(c)/m(b) --> 0 as a qualitative model for the c --> D** fragmentation functions. We find that in this model charm quark fragmentation to s(l)pil = 3/2+ light degrees of freedom with helicities +/- 1/2 is favored over fragmentation to s(l)pil = 3/2+ light degrees of freedom with helicities +/- 3/2.