Charm couplings and form factors in QCD sum rules

We review the calculations of form factors and coupling constants in vertices with charm mesons in the framework of QCD sum rules. We first discuss the motivation for this work, describing possible applications of these form factors to heavy ion collisions and to B decays. We then present an introduction to the method of QCD sum rules and describe how to work with the three-point function. We give special attention to the procedure employed to extrapolate results obtained in the deep euclidean region to the poles of the particles, located in the time-like region. We present a table of ready-to-use parametrizations of all the form factors, which are relevant for the processes mentioned in the introduction. We discuss the uncertainties in our results. We also give the coupling constants and compare them with estimates obtained with other methods. Finally we apply our results to the calculation of the cross section of the reaction J / ψ + π → D + D ∗ ¯ .