Strong one-pion decay of Sigma_c, Sigma_c^* and Xi_c^*

Working in the framework of a nonrelativistic quark model we evaluate the widths for the strong one-pion decays $\Sigma_c\to\Lambda_c \pi$, $\Sigma_c^*\to\Lambda_c \pi$ and $\Xi_c^{*}\to\Xi_c \pi$. We take advantage of the constraints imposed by heavy quark symmetry to solve the three-body problem by means of a simple variational ansatz. We use partial conservation of the axial current hypothesis to get the strong vertices from weak axial current matrix elements. Our results are in good agreement with experimental data.