Dispersion approach to quark-binding effects in weak decays of heavy mesons

Dispersion approach based on the constituent quark picture and its applications to weak decays of heavy mesons are reviewed. Meson interaction amplitudes are represented within this approach as relativistic spectral integrals over the mass variables in terms of the meson wave functions and spectral densities of the corresponding Feynman diagrams. Various applications of this approach are discussed: Relativistic spectral representations for meson elastic and transition form factors at spacelike momentum transfers are constructed. Form factors at $q^2>0$ are obtained by the analytical continuation. As a result of this procedure, form factors are given in the full $q^2$ range of the weak decay in terms of the wave functions of the participating mesons. The 1/m_Q expansion of the obtained spectral representations for the form factors for the particular limits of the heavy-to-heavy and heavy-to-light transitions are analysed. Their full consistency with the constraints provided by long-distance QCD for these limits is demonstrated. Predictions for form factors for B, B(s), D, and D(s) decays to light mesons are given. The B\to\gamma l\nu decay and the weak annihilation in rare radiative decays are considered. Nonfactorizable corrections to the B^0-\bar B^0 mixing are calculated. Inclusive weak B-decays are analysed and the differential distributions are obtained in terms of the B-meson wave function.