Perturbative QCD fragmentation functions as a model for heavy-quark fragmentation.

The perturbative QCD fragmentation functions for a heavy quark to fragment into heavy-light mesons are studied in the heavy-quark limit. The fragmentation functions for S-wave pseudoscalar and vector mesons are calculated to next-to-leading order in the heavy-quark mass expansion using the methods of heavy-quark effective theory. The results agree with the mb → ∞ limit of the perturbative QCD fragmentation functions for b̄ into Bc and B ∗ c . We discuss the application of the perturbative QCD fragmentation functions as a model for the fragmentation of heavy quarks into heavylight mesons. Using this model, we predict the fraction PV of heavy-light mesons that On leave from Department of Physics and Astronomy, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208 Address after Sept. 1 1994: Center for Particle Physics, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712 are produced in the vector meson state as functions of the longitudinal momentum fraction z and the transverse momentum relative to the jet axis. The fraction PV is predicted to vary from about 1/2 at small z to almost 3/4 near z = 1.