Exclusive non-leptonic decays of D-, D- and B-mesons.

Recent experimental results on D-, D- and B-decays are interpreted on the basis of the valence quark model. For nonleptonic decays generally good results are obtained using factorization with little direct annihilation. Final state interaction causes corrections, however: small bare amplitudes can be fed by stronger amplitudes through channel mixing. This effect can simulate or enhance weak annihilation processes in particular if high lying resonances contribute. A comparison of $$D^0 \to \bar K^0 \phi $$ with D→ϱπ decays will clarify this issue. The effective QCD coefficients obtained in the analysis are discussed and used to estimate the contribution of two-body decays to the total widths. The result reflects already the lifetime differences between D and D mesons. Predictions for numerous B-decay branching rations allow for further tests and for a determination of so far unknown decay constants. A first bound on | V| from nonleptonic decays is found from the experimental limit on $$\bar B^0 \to \pi ^ + \pi ^ - $$ . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]